경계에서 출발해 경계를 넘어: 1990년대 일본군 ‘위안부’ 운동의 초국적 연대를 중심으로

초록

This paper starts with problematizing some scholars who believe that the Korean ‘Comfort Women’ movement is based on nationalism or the mainstream feminist knowledge system which has marginalized the Korean women’s movement. The Japanese Military ‘Comfort Women’ movement in South Korea had sought to expand the universality of women’s human rights beyond time and space and to explore the intersection of gender and nation. The movement has been involved in the UN Human Rights Subcommittee and Human Rights Commission since the early 1990s when international alliances and solidary were unimaginable among Korean people. Through the effort of the Korean council and surviving victims, the United Nations' ‘Comfort Women’ recommendation was finally drawn up. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the concrete process of the movement through analyzing both oral interviews and written literature. As confronting the Japanese government’s ongoing denials and the South Korean government’s ambiguous stance, the Korean Council attempted to resolve the problems through the pressure of international organizations. By collaboration with the global women’s rights movement and efforts from the Korean survivors and activists, the issue of the Japanese military ‘comfort women’ has been greatly recognized in the international society as an important agenda of sexual violence and sexual slavery in armed conflicts. The notable fact here is that the Korean ‘comfort women’ movement did not simply meet with the international women's human rights system, but led the movement and renewed the international women's human rights norms. In fact, a local community in East Asia has served as an impetus for advances in global conventions and international communities. The South Korean ‘comfort women’ movement should be legitimately recorded and remembered in domestic and foreign history as a major example of the transnational women’s movement.

키워드