This is a full reprint and faithful English rendering, presenting Miroslav Marinov’s report on a comfort women panel discussion at the University of Toronto OISE, alongside commentary on anti-Japan propaganda waged by South Korea and China primarily in the United States, why Japanese media do not report it, and what this article reveals about the existence of genuine, righteous people in the world.

At the same time, this article teaches us that there are always genuine people (those who are right) in the world.
2016-12-04
While searching the internet, the greatest library in human history, in order to confirm the spelling of Mr. Miroslav Marinov’s name, the following truly valuable article of his came up.
Why is it truly valuable. Because media such as the Asahi Shimbun do not report at all on the reality of the propaganda that South Korea and China, countries that continue to carry out persistent anti-Japan propaganda, are waging with the United States as their main battlefield.
Why do they not report it at all. The Japanese people, who are the subscribers of those media, should come to know the correctness of my remark that those media have long since been targets of the operations of the above countries and have been won over by them.
At the same time, this article teaches us that there are always genuine people (those who are right) in the world.
All Japanese people should also realize that they must hold deep feelings of gratitude toward Mr. Miroslav Marinov.
All emphasis in the text, except for the title, is mine.
Panel Discussion on the Comfort Women Issue – at the University of Toronto OISE –
Miroslav Marinov
On May 3, 2016, a symposium was held at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE) on the theme “The Apology: Colonial and Militarized Sexual Violence Against Women.” The organizers of the event were The Centre for Women’s Studies in Education of OISE/UT, ALPHA Education (Toronto Alpha), Centre for the Study of Korea (UT), and others. The panelists were Tiffany Hsuing (director of The Apology, a film that criticizes the Japanese government’s response to the comfort women issue), Gil Won OK (a former comfort woman), Yoon Meehyang (standing representative of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan), Judy Cho (program director of Toronto Alpha, participating this time as an interpreter), Yanar Mohammed (a Canadian feminist activist originally from Iraq, representative of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq), Winnie Muchuba (originally from the Congo and herself a victim of violence, representative of Romero House and Parkdale Community Health Center). The moderator was Angela Lytle (a pro-Korea feminist activist at OISE).
I would like to make two points here. First, OISE is an educational institution that implants extreme leftist ideology in students, and many teachers openly declare that they are Marxists. They are extremely hostile toward developed countries (including Canada), and claim that the development of developed countries is nothing other than the result of colonial exploitation. For example, at almost all events held at the University of Toronto, extreme-left teachers (Lytle is no exception) and moderators say things like this. “We are standing on land owned by Indigenous people. This land is still a colony.” In reality, the truth is that Indigenous people sold off their land long ago, but facts do not matter because the purpose of these leftists is to demean the country of Canada. To take up the issue of “comfort women” in this panel discussion is likewise an attempt to unfairly demean Japan.
Next, what I want to point out is that the organizers incorporated currently occurring problems into the comfort women issue, which is an event of the past. Yanar Mohammed, a panelist originally from Iraq, spoke about how after the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, women were kidnapped by local residents and Americans, raped, and sold off as slaves. Winnie Muchuba’s talk was about the impact of war in her country of origin, the Congo, on women (in both Iraq and Congo, the harm to women was caused by civil war and has nothing to do with colonial policy). Such arguments create the image that Japan is a country as terrible as countries like Iraq and Congo that have no rule of law.
Both Tiffany Hsuing and Yoon Meehyang, in their respective presentations, emphasized that the Japanese military kidnapped as many as 200,000 Korean women and that testimony by wartime victims is important. Their two points are as follows. Kidnapped Korean women (including women other than Koreans) were made sexual slaves in countries occupied by Japan. Because they were deeply ashamed of having been sexually assaulted, it took many months before they confessed that truth. Support organizations for former comfort women have confirmed 500 survivors up to the present, but most women have uncertain memories or want to forget the past.
Some of the examples that Yoon Meehyang wants to present are truly strange. Gil Won Ok (attending as a panelist) was kidnapped when she was 13 years old, but because it was a year that corresponded to Korea’s lunar year (lunar year), she was actually 11 years old. Another comfort woman whom Yoon Meehyang cited as an example was a 15-year-old girl at the time. She was in such a state that she had to be given injections because she was extremely fatigued every day. In 1995, when this woman appeared before Yoon Meehyang, there were needle marks left on her body. (This story is quite implausible. Would injection-needle scars from the 1930s remain until 1995.)
Yoon Meehyang also said this. During the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, many women in the disaster areas were victims of rape. The Korean Council sent $50,000 and packages containing underwear with messages from former comfort women to the victims in the disaster areas. The Korean Council is also pursuing rape by soldiers dispatched to the Vietnam War. Prime Minister Abe refuses to face the truth because his grandfather is a war criminal. The apology in the December 2015 Japan–Korea agreement is insufficient. Japan should fully acknowledge all its crimes and provide monetary compensation to former comfort women. Japan should adopt textbooks that include the crimes Japan committed.
The author asked questions after the lecture because no media had raised questions about the basis on which Yoon Meehyang claims that the comfort women stories are true, and also about the rapes at the time of the earthquake. First, regarding the point that the comfort women stories Yoon Meehyang asserts are true, she said they are based on the description in MacArthur’s 1945 “Amenities in the Japanese Armed Forces.” And she stated that the fact of rapes during the Great East Japan Earthquake was information from Japanese women’s groups.
After this question, the author’s friend asked a further question regarding the age of the comfort women. Citing the book she had with her at the time, she raised the issue that, given that wages were paid to women and that the ages of women were said to range from 17 to 30, the possibility that an 11-year-old girl was recruited would be extremely low.
Yoon Meehyang’s reaction clearly shows that leftist feminists dislike rational questions. One could read irritation from Yoon Meehyang’s facial expression, and she merely said that victims’ testimony is more important than the contents of the book. The moderator, Angela Lytle, criticized the author’s friend, who asked a reasonable question, saying, “This place is a ‘political safe space’ that respects victims and praises their activities, and it is not a place to pose questions (that challenge respecting victims and praising their activities). The questioner is trying to disrupt this event.” Yanar Mohammed also nodded at Lytle’s comment. And later in the event, she commented, “Calling victims’ voices liars is ‘state feminists’ (state feminist) who are attacking our beliefs.” Although not directly, her comment was one that criticized the author’s friend’s reasonable question.
This is the level of academic debate in Canada that is taking place in educational institutions dominated by left-wing fanatics. What makes it extremely difficult to debate with such fanatics is that they do not accept that there are clear facts that refute their agenda. For the left, the foundation of debate is emotion and personal attacks. And because the left pushes its ideas and opinions quite forcefully, politicians come to have the impression that such fanatics have influence.
After the lecture, I searched on the internet for MacArthur’s report. () What I found was that the report does not prove sexual slavery at all. There are opinions that wartime comfort stations are immoral, but comfort women were never slaves. Comfort women were paid money, and the Japanese military encouraged them to save it. If the Korean Council regards MacArthur’s report as important, then it is strange that Japan does not use this report to support Japan’s claims.
And finally, what the author wants to propose concerns the panelists’ claim that 200,000 were kidnapped. By further pursuing the claim of 200,000 kidnappings, might it not be possible to prove the lie of the theory that the Japanese military kidnapped 200,000 people. If the South Korean government insists that 200,000 were kidnapped, then the Japanese government should demand a list including the backgrounds of the women who were kidnapped.
May 16, 2016
() References
Amenities in the Japanese Armed Forces
I.G.No. 6310
B.I.D.No. 1228
DATE OF ISSUE 15 November 1945
MacArthur Document Reports　Imperial Japanese Military’s “Sanction”　of Comfort Women Brothels
By Dennis Halpin
US・KOREA INSTITUTE　AT SAIS August 15, 2013
[Author: Miroslav Marinov]
A writer and freelance journalist residing in Canada. Born in Bulgaria. After graduating from the Department of Philosophy at Sofia University, completed doctoral studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Writing mainly on North American politics.
Recent work Lynched:The Media War against Rob Ford