Uncomfortable truths about sexual violence against women

Daniel Nelson

How do you apologise for an atrocity?

An atrocity that occurred on a mass scale, involving perhaps 200,000 women, for which many in the offending nation will do anything to avoid responsibility.

The atrocity is known by a term, “comfort women”, that is so euphemistically dishonest that its very use is a cruel insult. (Japanese military records referred to the sex slaves as "units of war supplies", and a doctor has testified that they were seen as "female ammunition" and "public toilets".)

The women were dragooned or tricked into becoming sex objects for the Japanese army during the invasion of China and in World War Two. They came from a number of countries but predominantly from Korea, and the question of apologies and reparations has proved contentious for years.

Here, the mass crime is little known. But a Korean journalist-turned-banker-turned-playwright, Kyo Choi, who lived in Britain for 15 years before moving to Portugal, has put it on stage.

Testimonies from some of the few remaining women are woven into the script, but it’s a drama not a documentary. Kyo Choi focuses on three women: Priyanka is beginning a UN investigation into the atrocity and the subsequent political cover-up; Yuna is about to learn the family secret her father has concealed for her whole life; Sun-Hee has kept her silence for over 40 years and is on the brink of speaking out – an act that will spark international controversy.

“Three women’s lives intertwine as they campaign for the truth against those who would rather it remain forgotten,” says the advertising blurb.

Choi remembers looking at a statue commemorating the Korean victims in Seoul when she was a girl, but seems surprised that she has written four plays on the topic of violence against women: “Clearly I have an obsession with the subject matter!” (It’s not an all-encompassing obsession, however: she is currently writing ICON – The K-Pop Musical, with a UK and South Korea-based creative team.)

Today, she admits, the memory of the “comfort women” atrocity is mainly confined to older Koreans. That shouldn’t be surprising. Who in Britain remembers former foreign secretary William Hague and actor Angelina Jolie’s recent initiative to tackle tackle sexual violence in conflict zones?

Like so many such initiatives, it was simply overtaken by events and slid from view.

Choi, however, admits to choosing to write about “dark, weighty topics”, rather than light plays about relationships.

This scandal is certainly weighty, and Choi says that the play poses several important questions - including how does a country - any country - apologise for the crimes of the past.

Another issue is exactly what survivors - who in Korea now probably total no more than 10 - want from the perpetrators. Compensation? An apology? Acceptance of legal responsibility? Prosecutions? Changes to textbooks? In the case of this particular atrocity, Japan has made apologies but there are always controversies over the wording and some Koreans complain that  the apologies are subsequently hedged by other statements or shifts in policy or by quibbling over  terms such as “forced”.

“There are myriad complexities,” says Choi. But she insists that she is not looking at violence against women specifically through war (the play is set in the 1990s), and doesn’t want audiences to see it as relevant only to East Asia: “That’s not the reaction I’m hoping to get.

“I think about right-wing nationalism, about Roe v Wade and the most powerful country in the world removing protective laws for women, about trafficking and sexual slavery and the displacement of women and children. It’s relevant to what is happening today, in many places. “

+ 20 Sept, Post-show discussion, writer Kyo Choi and director Ria Parry discuss the play and how giving a voice to the emotionally and physically damaged can be cathartic, especially when using theatre, art and protest to heal the effects of war on Asian women

* The Apology, from £12, is at the Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8, 15 September-8 October. Info: 7503 1646/ https://www.arcolatheatre.com/whats-on/the-apology-2/