South Korea

We have been through this cycle before [with North Korea], and it has always ended badly.

In the case of Mr. Jang [Jin-sung], the reality is he defected in 2004, 10 years ago, and it is nearly impossible for anyone having left a country [like North Korea] that has a news block-out to be able to have consistent and accurate and clear information for over a 10-year period of time. Defectors and exiles are also known generally in the scholarship to be colored by their experiences of the past. So they tend to read and interpret events in current times through the lens of the past and their own grievances.

My guess is that [former Korean sex workers] chose to frame the U.S. military prostitution issue to ride the coattails of the Japanese ‘comfort women’ or 'jeongsindae' movement. They could have assumed — I have no proof — that there might be public sympathy or understanding, since the Japanese ‘comfort women’ issue is well-known nationally and internationally. But I think it was a mistake to choose that term. It undercuts the jeongsindae case and confuses the public.