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United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121 (H.Res. 121) is a resolution about comfort women which Japanese-American Congressman Mike Honda of California's 15th congressional district introduced to the American House of Representatives in 2007. It asks that the Japanese government apologize to former comfort women and include curriculum about them in Japanese schools, citing the 1921 International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children that Japan has ratified and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. This resolution was passed on July 30, 2007. [1]
Seiji Yoshida's memoirs were used as an evidence for the roundup of over 1,000 women in Korea in a Congressional Report which was prepared for this resolution. [2]
An early detailed revelation came from Yoshida Seiji, a former Japanese military policeman, who wrote a book in 1983 entitled My War Crimes: The Forced Draft of Koreans in which he described his participation in the roundup of over 1,000 women in Korea for service as "comfort women" to the Japanese military.
On June 14, 2007, a group of conservative Japanese politicians, academics, and others ran an advertisement in The Washington Post critical of the resolution. The ad was in response to a previous advertisement by a group of Korean comfort women survivors that ran in The Washington Post in support of the resolution, titled The Truth about Comfort Women.
Comfort women were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term comfort women is a translation of the Japanese ianfu, a euphemism that literally means "comforting, consoling woman". During World War II, Japanese troops forced hundreds of thousands of women from Australia, Burma, China, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, East Timor, New Guinea and other countries into sexual enslavement for Japanese soldiers; however, the majority of the women were from Korea. Many women died due to brutal mistreatment and sustained physical and emotional distress. After the war, Japan denied the existence of comfort women, refusing to provide an apology or appropriate restitution. After numerous demands for an apology and the revelation of official records showing the Japanese government's culpability, the Japanese government began to offer an official apology and compensation in the 1990s. However, apologies from Japanese officials have been criticized as insincere, and Japanese government officials have continued to deny the existence of comfort women.
Michael Makoto Honda is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in Congress from 2001 to 2017.
Jane Margaret Harman is an American former politician who served as the U.S. Representative for California's 36th congressional district from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2001 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee (2002–2006), before she chaired the Homeland Security Committee's Intelligence Subcommittee (2007–2011).
Thomas Peter Lantos was a Hungarian-born American politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 1981 until his death in 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the state's 11th congressional district until 1993. After redistricting, he served from the 12th congressional district, which included both the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and a portion of the southwestern part of San Francisco.
Frank Rudolph Wolf is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 10th congressional district from 1981 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he announced in December 2013 that he would not run for reelection in 2014. Wolf retired at the conclusion of his 17th term in office, in January 2015. At the time of his retirement, he was the dean of the state's congressional delegation, having served for 34 consecutive years.
James Patrick McGovern is an American politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997, representing Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district since 2013. A Democrat, he is the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, chaired the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and is the co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. His district, numbered as the 3rd district from 1997 to 2013, stretches from Worcester to the Pioneer Valley.
Collin Clark Peterson is an American accountant, politician, and lobbyist who served as the U.S. representative for Minnesota's 7th congressional district from 1991 to 2021. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he was chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture from 2019 to 2021 having previously held the office from 2007 to 2011; he had been ranking member from 2011 to 2019 and 2005 to 2007. Peterson was the most senior U.S. Representative from Minnesota and the dean of Minnesota's congressional delegation. In 2020, Peterson was defeated by Michelle Fischbach, ending his 30-year tenure in the United States House of Representatives. In 2022, Peterson registered as a federal lobbyist after opening an eponymous consulting firm.
Karen Lorraine Jacqueline Speier is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 14th congressional district, serving in Congress from 2008 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Speier represented much of the territory that her political mentor, Leo Ryan, represented.
Yūto Yoshida was a Japanese novelist and member of the Japanese Communist Party. He has published under a variety of pen names, including Seiji Yoshida, Tōji Yoshida, and Eiji Yoshida. He wrote "My war crimes", which is the origin of a dispute over comfort women 30 years after World War II; he admitted that portions of his work had been made up in an interview with Shūkan Shinchō on May 29, 1996. Later, his fictional work was used by George Hicks in his "The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War".
Ikuhiko Hata is a Japanese historian. He earned his PhD at the University of Tokyo and has taught history at several universities. He is the author of a number of influential and well-received scholarly works, particularly on topics related to Japan's role in the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.
Tōru Doi is a former Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, who served as a member of the House of Representatives. He has served as State Minister of Reconstruction, State Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Chairman of the House of Representatives Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Committee, and Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Finance and Banking Committee.
Shingo Nishimura; born 7 July 1948) is a former Japanese politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1993 to 2014. Nishimura is known for his negationism of Japanese war crimes committed during World War II.
Masaaki Akaike is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet.
Taku Etō is a Japanese politician who has served as a member of the House of Representatives since 2003. He previously served as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Takami Eto was a Japanese politician and former member of Japan's House of Representatives.
Global Alliance For Preserving the History of WWII in Asia is a non-profit, non-partisan federation of over 40 grassroots organizations dedicated to the remembrance, redress and reconciliation concerning World War II in Asia, also known as the Pacific War. It is concerned about crimes committed by the Imperial Japanese Army and issues related to them such as the Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731, Comfort women, Prisoners of War and Forced Labor. It aims to bring together such groups electronically, organizationally, and personally. This federation has become increasingly recognized as the leading organization safeguarding humanity and international justice with relation to World War II in Asia and the Pacific and its aftermath. It is also the first organization of its kind since previous similar groups were only focused on one or some aspects of the war.
The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) is a bipartisan body of the United States House of Representatives. Its stated mission is "to promote, defend and advocate internationally recognized human rights norms in a nonpartisan manner, both within and outside of Congress, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant human rights instruments."
Lee Yong-soo is a former comfort woman from South Korea. Lee was forced to serve as a comfort woman during World War II by the Imperial Japanese Army. She is one of the youngest comfort women still living.
Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues, Inc (WCCW) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that advocates for the rights of wartime victims and their lawful reparation. Their mission is to contribute to the "eradication and prevention of sex crimes against women by promoting public awareness and education".
Jennifer Ann Kiggans is an American politician and nurse practitioner serving as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 2nd congressional district. A Republican, Kiggans is a former United States Navy helicopter pilot. She defeated incumbent Elaine Luria in the 2022 election and was re-elected in 2024.
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