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Mizuho Fukushima and Kim Hak-sun (1924-1997)

FACT:

Mizuho Fukushima was a member of the plaintiff's attorney of a lawsuit against the Government of by Japan filed by Kim Hak-sum and other so called military comfort women in December 1991. Mizuho Fukushima attended the hearing to Korean women for the comfort woman issue by the Government of Japan in 1993.

Details:

Mizuho Fukushima was the party leader of Social Democratic Party from 2003 to 2013. In 1991, she went to Korea to find out comfort women according the book of Seiji Yoshida. She, together with a layer - Kenich Takagi, found out a Korean woman - Kim Hak-sun - in Seoul as a comfort woman during the World War II.

She arranged Kim Hak-sun's appearance on NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) in order to appeal an experience of a comfort woman. Kim Hak-sun testified that she was sold by her parents to a Kisaeng house and brought to a sex house of Japanese Army by her father-in-law. Although a Kisaeng house is the place where Korean girls learn dance, song, and other cultural activities, why her parents could get money instead of paying the school fee?

Anyway, the purpose of the testimony of Kim Hak-sun was to demand the compensation for her salary as a comfort woman. Since the Japanese currency became invalid after the war, she lost her saving which she gained by working as a comfort woman.

After that, Asahi Shimbun reported that the comfort woman was forcibly brought by the Japanese army. Although this was misinformation, Mizuho Fukushima followed the Asahi Shimbun’s article. She changed the testimony of Kim Hak-sun. Instead of the original testimony that Kim Hak-sun was sold by per parents, Mizuho Fukushima arranged that Kim Hak-sun was captured by the Japanese Army and brought to the battle field directly.

Mizuho Fukushima, who was just a lawyer at that time, made her debut in public, and became the leader of Social Democratic Party in 2003.

Why this fact affects the rightward trend?

Social Democratic Party is one of the left-wing parties in Japan. The party lost its political influence in Japan after the collation of communism. In order to find out the way to survive, the party emphasized the human right and environment as many liberal parties in the world. The issue of the comfort woman was one of the ways to get a reputation in that field. However, in the course of a number of verifications of the testimonies of so-called comfort women, the activity of Mizuho Fukushima in the early 1990s became to be known to many Japanese people. She is one of the persons who triggered the spread of the fake story of comfort women to the world and destroyed the relationship between Japan and Korea.