Voices of the Korean Comfort Women: History Rewritten from Memories
Chungmoo Choi, Hyunah Yang, eds.
Routledge, 2023
Voices of the Korean Comfort Women presents the life stories of nine survivors, recounting how they were taken, the atrocities they endured in the comfort stations, and how they struggled to survive not only the Pacific War but also the Korean War and its aftermath. Each testimony is accompanied by the interviewer’s notes, offering critical context and insight. This English translation of a vital oral history, supported by theoretically informed guides, is an essential resource for students and scholars of Asian history, the Pacific War, wartime sexual violence, and those seeking to understand historical trauma and human rights.
About the editors:
Chungmoo Choi is a Professor of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Irvine, with a Ph.D. from Indiana University. Her research spans modern Korean culture, gender, literature, film, religion, and post-colonial discourse. Choi’s books include Voices of the Korean Comfort Women: History Rewritten from Memories, Healing Historical Trauma in South Korean Film and Literature, and Dangerous Women: Gender and Korean Nationalism. Through her work, he examines how women’s narratives reshape national memory and cultural identity.
Hyunah Yang is a Professor of Law at Seoul National University, specializing in Gender and Law and Sociology of Law. As Korea’s first female law professor at SNU, she has pioneered legal reforms, abolishing the Family‑Head System and advocating for reproductive rights. Dr. Yang has researched Japanese military sexual slavery extensively, emphasizing feminist legal reasoning and restorative justice. She served as a commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and played a key role in organizing the 2000 Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo. Her publications include Finding “Map of Memory”: Testimonies of Japanese Sexual Slavery Survivors and A Journey of Family Law Reform in Korea.