人権理事会52セッション（ジュネーブ・2023年2月27日-4月18日）にて 国連特別協議資格をもつ新しい歴史教科書をつくる会が国際歴史論戦研究所と協力して、3月17日に「徴用工問題について」ビデオでのＮＧＯ発言を行いました。 その様子はこちらの国連の公式ネット放送（UN Web TV)でご覧になれます。
The Republic of Korea’s Supreme Court ordered Japanese companies to individually compensate Korean victims, based on its ruling that “Japanese companies forcibly mobilized Koreans and made them slave-like labors during World War II.”
However, at that time, the so-called Korean victims were citizens of Japan and it was legal to mobilize them, and so they were not “slave labors”.
Moreover, the 1965 Agreement between Japan and the ROK concluded issues as “finally and completely resolved” including individual claims.
Today, there is neither legal nor moral responsibility for compensation on the part of the Japanese companies.
In response, ROK unilaterally abandoned an agreement, seized Japanese companies’ assets and is trying to cash them so that the money can be used as “compensation”.
These not only violate international law but also constitute a threat to Japanese national security.
We strongly request that this council warn the ROK not to deprive Japanese companies of their assets in ROK based on an unreasonable court ruling.
Thank you.
＜参考サイト＞ 52nd regular session of the Human Rights Council (27 February 2023 – 18 April 2023) 17 Mar 2023 Item:3 General Debate (Cont’d) – 32nd meeting, 52nd Regular Session of Human Rights Council 1:44:50 Japan Society for History Textbook https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1q/k1qqhwj7s9?kalturaStartTime=6290
委員会から日本政府に事前に出された質問事項（CCPR/C/JPN/QPR/7）では慰安婦問題を「第二次世界大戦中の日本軍による性奴隷（「慰安婦」）の問題」（原文：the issue of sexual slavery (“comfort women”) perpetrated by the Japanese military during the Second World War）と記していました。対日審査会では、イゲズ委員はこの問題は議論のあるセンシティブな問題なので適切な用語として、と前置きして「第二次世界大戦中に日本軍によって人権侵害された被害者と申したてられている慰安婦」（発言原文：comfort women who are allegedly have been victims of human rights violations perpetrated by the military during WW2）と表現し、発言中は「性奴隷」（sexual slavery）という言葉は使いませんでした。アフリカの男性委員が慰安婦問題について詳しいとは思えませんが、論争になっている複雑な問題であることは認識していたようです。
＜発言英語＞
A1; According to the principle of the democracy, the opinions and the will of the majority should be respected and reflected in the policy. Of course, the rights of the minorities should be respected, even the minorities should obey the rules and the order of the democratic society. We should not allow the illegal violence for the reason that the riots are belonging to the minorities.
In Seattle, the United States, the violence caused by the BLM members in 2020. The riots of the BLM members assaulted the shops owned by the inhabitants belonging to the majority. Even the African American people’s shops were assaulted.
We should respect the human rights of the people in the world including the minorities in the PRC and Myanmar. In those countries, the clear violations of the human rights are conducted under the dictatorship or the authoritarian government. However, we should not allow the illegal violence of the minorities in the democratic society. We should respect the human rights of all people in all countries.
In some cases, the dominant power belongs to the minorities who would not hesitate use the illegal violence under the name of the protection of the minorities. We should not allow such illegal violence conducted by any groups. The protection of the minority’s right should be realized in the legal and peaceful ways.
A2: I’d like to make some additional comments on the hate crimes.
The hate crimes against minorities are too severely restricted in Japan, the majority of the ordinary Japanese people in some cases cannot declare their legal requirements and the historical facts for the protection of their rights and honor.
For examples, concerning the so-called comfort women issue, there are not any historical facts verifying the coercion of the Japanese Imperial Army during WWII. Currently some Japanese students living in foreign countries, are sometimes blamed by such a fault history. The legitimate opposing opinions should be allowed in every country and every society including the issues concerning the so-called comfort women issue.
＜発言英語＞
We appreciated tireless works of committee members and thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak today.
Japan has a unique culture and customs in its over 2600-year history that are difficult to be understood outside of Japan. One is "to resolve disputes through discussion before conflicts occur," and even if one is not at fault, apologies are often made in order to keep the situation calm. In Japan, there is a saying that encourages this: "The boughs that bear most hang lowest." This means, "the more noble, the more humble.” The Japanese government has failed many times in the past by applying this Japanese approach in diplomacy.
One of the historical issues still smoldering between Japan and Republic of Korea (ROK) is the comfort women issue. The Japanese government conducted a full-scale investigation, but didn’t find any evidence to show forcible mobilization either by the Japanese government or military. Furthermore, in 1944, at the end of World War II, U.S. military interrogation reports of comfort women from the Korean Peninsula, stated that those women were "well-paid prostitutes," and "They enjoyed shopping and activities freely."
After Korea ended using Chinese characters in 1970, many of them no longer can read historical publications. Further, the Korean Government has been conducting anti-Japanese education, and in 1995, they even blew up a magnificent building built during the Japanese annexation period. To this day, the government blows up its own negative history to erase it, and if it cannot blow it up, they revise history in their text books.
In 1993, in order to end this fabrication based on ROK’s historical revisionism, a Japanese cabinet secretary issued a statement called the "Kono Statement" as the ROK government demanded. In exchange, the ROK government promised that they would not demand any further compensation. However, their demands still continue. This has caused the relationship to remain cold.
Similarly, ROK’s revisionism has also led Korean people to demand compensation from Japanese companies for wartime workers whom they claim were "forced to work as slaves." The ROK government and private organizations have misused the United Nations to keep pressure on the Japanese government.
As a result, the reputation of the Japanese people has been severely damaged and humiliated in various countries. We hope that the Japanese government will quickly withdraw this Kono Statement, disclose the facts to the world, and work to restore the dignity of the Japanese people.
In 1965, Japan and ROK signed the "Basic Treaty between Japan and Korea," to restore diplomatic relations. In this treaty, Japan provided Korea an aid package to "completely and finally settled" the dispute, with neither side making any claim for what happened before that time.
We would like CCPR to recommend the following three points to the Japanese government:
1. Withdraw the Kono Statement.
2. The Japanese government should strongly urge the Korean government to implement the Basic Treaty between Japan and Korea.
The first one, in relation to article 12, is “Missing Japanese Probably Related to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea”
As you might know, the Japanese government has been officially identified 17 Japanese citizens as “abductees by DPRK.”
But these cases are just only “the tip of the huge iceberg”.
This is an NGO report submitted by “the Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea”
There is a list of Japanese Abductees and Missing Persons.
You find 540 (five hundred and forty) names.
Moreover, the National Police Agency has its own list of approximately 900 (nine hundred) missing persons possibly abducted by DPRK.
We assume there could be more cases because of absence of family members.
Why have such terrible human rights violations been left unsolved for decades?
Families have been waiting for them to come home.
However, as families get older, their time is very limited.
The Japanese government must rescue all the victims immediately.
And we sincerely request CCPR to discuss this gravest human rights violation during the dialogue with the Japanese government.
Secondly, I would like to speak “comfort women issue.”
The Articles 7 and 8 are not pertinent to the Comfort Women.
We request that the committee must dismiss the issue in accordance with Article 15.
Claims regarding the Comfort Women have critical flaws in the logic.
The reasons are;
(1) There has been no documentary evidence to corroborate abduction of the women;
(2) The statements made by the Comfort Women that they put some earnings in postal savings, mailed home some money, enjoyed watching movies in town, decorated themselves with jewels etc. do not make sense if they were sexual slaves;
(3) No third parties have yet presented sufficient and competent evidential matters as to the assertions of the self-proclaimed comfort women;
(4) Because the licensed prostitution was in place in Japan before and during the war, and until early 1950s, the licensed prostitution has nothing to do with war crimes.
Speaking of the history, during Japan's Annexation, the Korean peninsula saw remnants of governance flaw of the former empire.
Impoverished members of society were exploited by human trafficking.
Human trafficking was punishable during the Annexation years.
And victims of human trafficking were irrelevant to the Comfort Women who signed the employment agreements with registered business operators.
A firm perception of history must factor in the background of the times.
There is no objective rationality to extend the act of misconduct, if at all, of those times to the present.
We, the International Research Institute of Controversial Histories (iRICH), are a Non-Governmental Organization with the principal aim of recognizing true history by tackling historical controversies of international significance based on fair historical research.
On January 28, 2022, the Japanese Government informed the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that Japan recommends its “Sado Gold Mine” to be inscribed as World Cultural Heritage. “Sado Gold Mine” is a historical site located in Sadogashima Island in the northern part of Japan and is composed of several gold mines. Sado Gold Mine has a long history and during Japan’s Edo period (from1603 to 1868), the entire process of gold mining and refinery was carried out by traditional manual manufacturing. In the 17th century, the Mine produced over 400 kilograms of gold per year and its production was at a top level in the world. Today, this historical site has preserved the memory of the superb technical level achieved at the time. As such, the Japanese Government recommended this site as worthy of the status of a World Heritage Site.
However, the South Korean Government claimed that Sado Gold Mine was the very place where Koreans were forced to engage in labor during World War II and that therefore it is strongly opposed to Japan’s recommendation of the site, demanding that Japan withdraw the recommendation.
Whether Sado Gold Mine would be inscribed as World Heritage site or not is to be decided finally in June or July 2023 by the World Heritage Committee after the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) fully examines the recommendation for a year. During this period, we anticipate the South Korean Government’s feverish lobbying to prevent Sado Gold Mine from being inscribed.
However, the South Korean Government’s assertion against the prospective inscription is totally untrue. Here, we will point out how absurd and fact-twisting the Korean assertion is.
The focus of Japan’s recommendation is the Edo period.
Japan’s recommendation deals strictly with the Edo period. It highly evaluates the gold production system of manual manufacturing established during the Edo period, which has been rarely seen in the world. This has nothing to do with Korea and Korea is not a party involved in the issue. Therefore, South Korea is not in the position to oppose the inscription in question.
Moreover, the Korean assertion that “there was forced labor in the gold mines, which disqualifies the site for World Heritage Site” is wrong in the first place. If the Korean assertion were right, Athene’s “Parthenon” or Rome’s Colosseum would surely be disqualified because both of them were built by slaves.
There was no forced abduction.
It is true that there were Korean workers in Sado Gold Mine during World War II. However, those Korean workers were not forcibly brought there as the South Korean Government claims. Most of the Korean workers in Sado Gold Mine went to work there of their own volition, looking for high wages. At that time, in order to come to mainland Japan from the Korean Peninsula, various permits were needed. Those who failed to obtain the necessary permits often entered mainland Japan illegally, seeking work for high wages. From 1939 to 1942, 19, 200 illegal immigrants were caught and then were forcibly sent back to the Korean Peninsula. If there had been a need to forcibly bring Korean workers, those illegal immigrants caught upon entry would have never been sent back to Korea.
“Mobilization” of Koreans, who were Japanese nationals at the time, was legal.
There were some Korean workers brought from the Korean Peninsula to mainland Japan through “mobilization.” At that time, Japan and Korea were one country and Koreans were Japanese citizens. Therefore, it was legal to mobilize Koreans who were Japanese nationals. The ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No.29) [Japan ratified the Convention before the War] Article 2-2-c) states: “The term forced or compulsory labour shall not include any work or service exacted in case of emergency, that is to say, in the event of war....” Thus, the mobilization of Korean people was authorized by the international law. In April 2021, the Japanese Government decided at a cabinet meeting that the wartime mobilization of Korean workers does not constitute forced labor as stated in the Forced Labour Convention. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has confirmed it.
There was no slave labor.
There was no wage system based on ethnic differences applied at Sado Gold Mine. As for payment and treatment, there was no difference between Japanese and Korean workers. A reliable primary source “the Japan Mining Industry’s “Survey Report on Korean Laborers”, December 1940” reveals that with wages being paid according to results, many Korean workers earned more money than the Japanese workers did. South Korea’s assertion that Korean workers were abducted and engaged in forced labor is merely a lie South Korea made up to denigrate Japan.
As pointed out above, South Korea’s assertion distorts historical facts and is totally groundless. South Korea’s aim is to degrade Japan’s past by rewriting history and to hold a diplomatic superiority over Japan. To accomplish this goal, South Korea is deploying “intelligence warfare,” using the United Nations. If various United Nations organizations involved in the World Heritage Inscription were to make a wrong judgment regarding the case of Sado Gold mine, confused by the unilateral lobbying activities conducted by South Korea, not only would be Japan’s national honor deeply harmed, but also the United Nations’ credibility would be enormously damaged.
Hereby, we, as Japanese nationals, ardently ask those who are involved in the case of inscription of the World Heritage Sites to duly evaluate the historical value of Sado Gold Mine in a just and impartial manner and inscribe Sado Gold Mine as World Cultural Heritage, and not be influenced by the South Korea’s political propaganda.
＜NGO 発言＞ ① 2022年3月29日 議題9 一般討論 UN WEB TV https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1h/k1hrvopzx3?kalturaStartTime=921 発言者 矢野義昭 発言内容 ” Russian Federation and Ukraine ~ Protection of Noncombatants ” We are deeply concerned about the present situation in which the Russian Federation and Ukraine—that have historically belonged to one nation —are exchanging fire. No one can deny the fact, from the view of the international law, it is Russia that has been invading Ukraine. Day after day, offensive and/or defensive powers have been injuring and killing innocent civilians and forcing a big population to leave their home for safety. What we have been witnessing there is nothing but inexcusable, unmistakable infringements of human rights, including the right to life. We strongly request Russia to abide by international rules. And we also request both Russia and Ukraine to heed to protection of noncombatants to the utmost extent possible.
発言内容 ” Does animosity promote peace? ” In the USA, a little girl says, “Mom, why do my classmates hate me?” Japanese students are bullied at school. In Germany, a student is insulted because his grandparents are Japanese. In the Republic of Korea, a boy says to his Japanese mother, “Don’t come to my school. " What is going on in the world? Korean groups have been building “peace statues” both at home and abroad. There are already more than140 of them and some are in the USA, Canada, Germany, and in Australia. What does the statue stand for? It is meant to symbolize hundreds of thousands of Korean women who were sexually enslaved as comfort women by the Japanese military during wartime. Were they sexual slaves? No, they were not. In fact, they were paid prostitutes who signed contracts with brothel owners. Why do they keep building the statues? Because they cannot accept what wrongs their ancestors had done for their daughters. It is a state sponsored hate campaign. Now, another one is going to be built in Philadelphia. We sincerely ask this Council member states not to build one in your city. We hope everyone in future generations to live NOT with animosity BUT with pride and wisdom.
The foreign minister of ROK Kang Kyung
brought the comfort women issue to this council for 3 consecutive years despite
the bilateral agreement signed between Japan and ROK, stipulating "the
comfort women issue has been resolved finally and irreversibly."
Japan paid about 9.3 million dollars from
taxpayer's money to support comfort women based on the agreement in 2015.
However, spending is unaccounted-for.
Last month, one of the former comfort women
Lee Yong-soo held press conferences and said, “I’ve been exploited by YUN
Mi-hyang” who used to be a leader of a comfort women supporting organization
funded by ROK government and its citizens.
According to her, YUN Mi-hyang collected
huge amounts of donations for 30 years, however, the donations were hardly used
for former comfort women but used to purchase real estate properties for her
own.
She also said that “Comfort women were not
Sex-slaves.”
Recently, the ROK government ironically
passed a resolution to make it illegal to “revise histories.”
History is not what is judged by the court.
Mr. Vice-President,
We request this Council to recommend to the
ROK government,
1. Stop abusing elderly women for the
monetary benefit and to bash Japan,
2. Disclose the use of funds donated by the
Japanese government,
3. Stop Japan-bashing based on falsified
stories and lies, and
4. Stop violating the bilateral agreement between Japan and ROK. Thank you very much, Mr. Vice-President.
国際歴史論戦研究所 が国連人権理事会（44会期/2020年6-7月）に共同意見書「韓国の詐欺的な 市民団体（ＮＧＯ）によって提起された慰安婦問題」（原題「A Deceitful Korean Citizens’ Group (NGO) and the Comfort Women Issue」）を5月27日付けで提出しました。 その意見書の全文をご紹介します。
