山口敬之元TBSワシントン総局長のスクー
韓国軍にベトナム人慰安婦がいた(拡散自由）
The ROK Army Used Vietnamese Comfort Women （No restrictions on retransmission)
これはＴＢＳワシントン支局長（当時）の山口敬之氏が書いて、
This is the text of a scoop article written by Noriyuki Yamaguchi, the Washington Bureau Chief of TBS Television (at the time), which was published in the Shukan Bunshun Magazine dated April 2, 2015.
http://shukan.bunshun.jp/
ご本人の承諾を得たので、和英二カ国語で全文掲載します。
I have obtained permission from Mr. Yamaguchi to distribute a full English/Japanese version.
山口さんに直接送って頂いた元原稿をベースに作成したので、
This is based on the original version which I received from the author directly, so it may be slightly different from what was actually published after editing.
山口さんの丁寧な取材で明らかになった真実の歴史です。
This is true history revealed by Mr. Yamaguchi's painstaking research. These are facts recorded in official documents of the United States government. It also includes detailed accounts by people who have direct knowledge of the situation at the time.
そして、韓国のハンギョレ新聞は「腹立だしいが反論は困難」
In addition, the Korean Hankyoreh newspaper recognized "This is vexing, but difficult to refute."
http://japan.hani.co.kr/arti/
ところがこの件、朝鮮日報や中央日報、
文春と産経以外の日本のマスコミは、
そう言えばマグロウヒルの教科書にも、
However, this event is being ignored in its entirety by The Chosun Ilbo and JoongAng Ilbo newspapers in Korea, as well as by the Korean government. Have any of the Japanese media aside from Bunshun and the Sankei group covered this scoop? Come to think of it, this should be included in the McGraw-Hill history textbooks in the U.S.!
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
歴史的スクープ！ 韓国軍にベトナム人慰安婦がいた
米機密公文書が暴く朴槿惠の”急所”
Historical Scoop! The ROK Army Used Vietnamese Comfort Women
Official U.S. Secret Documents Put President Park in a Tight Spot
(Shukan Bunshun: April 2, 2015, pp. 30-35)
ＴＢＳワシントン支局長 山口敬之
By Noriyuki Yamaguchi, TBS Television Washington Bureau Chief
1966年生まれ。慶応大学卒。90年ＴＢＳ入社。
Born in 1966, and a graduate of Keio University, Yamaguchi joined TBS in 1990. After working as a news cameraman, as the London Bureau Chief, in the Local News Section (covering police, Ministry of Transportation, etc.), and in the Political Section (covering Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prime Minister’s Office, etc.), he was transferred to the U.S., and is the current Washington Bureau Chief (at time of publication).
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
3月21日、ソウル。三年ぶりの日中韓外相会談が行われたが、
On March 21, the foreign ministers of Japan, China, and Korea met in Seoul for the first time in three years. The discussions between Japan and Korea on the comfort women issue yielded no progress. But if Korean troops had done the same thing, then what? As a result of thorough research of official U.S. government archives and field reporting on the ground in Vietnam, the truth about Korean troops during the Vietnam War is unveiled here.
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
最初に、ＴＢＳでワシントン支局長を務めている私が、
First, let me tell you why I started gathering information for a news story on the ROK army during the Vietnam War as TBS Television’s Washington Bureau chief.
きっかけは、アメリカに赴任する直前の二〇一三年初夏、
Shortly before I took up my position in the U.S. in the early summer of 2013, a foreign affairs official who had long been involved with Japan-ROK relations and who had had dinner with Park Geun-hye when she was still in the opposition told me:
「朴大統領は就任早々、
“President Park got herself into a cul-de-sac soon after taking office by raising the comfort women issue.”
その年の二月に第十八代大統領に就任した朴槿恵氏は、
Park, who became the 18th president of the ROK in February 2013, indicated she was going to take a tough stance toward Japan on the comfort women issue straightaway.
韓国では〇四年に、植民地時代に日本に協力した者を糾弾する「
The ROK enacted a “special law on fact finding on pro-Japanese and anti-national acts” in 2004 to punish collaborators during the Japanese colonial rule. Park’s father, former President Park Chung-hee, was an officer in the Japanese army during the colonial period. She suffered a lot as a result of this law.
「父の親日イメージを断ち切ろうとするかのように、
“Criticizing Japan to clear her father’s pro-Japanese reputation came to be her raison d’etre. Since the comfort women issue has become a tool to prove her anti-Japanese stance, she no longer has the option of resolving this issue on her own. This issue has become a domestic political issue for South Korea.”
それでは、慰安婦問題を巡る日韓の軋轢に出口はないのだろうか？ 私の問いに、彼はこう答えた。
So, isn’t there a solution to the Japan-ROK dispute over the comfort women issue? His answer to my question was:
「もしかしたら、
“You may find clues to a solution in the U.S., where you will be going to work.”
日韓両国から遠く離れたアメリカに、何があるというのか。
What is to be found in faraway America?
「実は、ベトナム戦争当時、
“Actually, I have unconfirmed information that during the Vietnam War, the ROK army operated comfort stations in many places in South Vietnam. If you are able to substantiate this with U.S. government documents, an additional dimension to the comfort women issue will be that the ROK was also a ‘perpetrator.’ If this results in President Park and the South Korean people coming to their senses and dealing with the comfort women issue in good faith, the situation may change.”
日韓関係の現状を憂うこの人物に背中を押され、
Encouraged by this person who was truly concerned by the current state of the Japan-ROK relationship, I began to look for previously undiscovered official documents all over the U.S. after I took up my job in Washington in September 2013.
アメリカには、国立公文書記録管理局、通称「ＮＡＲＡ」
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the official body in the U.S. that preserves government documents and materials deemed to be of significant historical value. It has archives in 33 locations in the country with a collection of 400 billion pages of documents, 300,000 videos, 5 million maps, statistics, and so forth. It is the biggest archive in the world that preserves such materials and makes them available to the public.
ベトナム戦争についても、南北の内戦突入（六十年）
The NARA has an extensive collection of official documents and video footage on the Vietnam War from the start of the North-South civil war in 1960 to the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973.
そもそも、一九六〇年代に本格化したベトナム戦争は、
The Vietnam War, which turned into a major war in the 1960s, was called a proxy Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union because it was fought between North Vietnam, supported by the USSR, China, and the Communist camp, and South Vietnam, backed by the U.S., Taiwan, and the free nations.
五〇年代前半の朝鮮戦争で国土が荒れ果て、
South Korea was devastated by the Korean War in the first half of the 1950s. It became one of the poorest countries in the world. Park Chung-hee, who became its fifth president in 1963, regarded the Vietnam War as a golden opportunity for national reconstruction. Through dogged negotiations, he was able to obtain subsidies and an immigration quota from the U.S. government in return for sending troops to Vietnam. The ROK began sending a substantial number of troops in 1965. A total of 310,000 South Korean forces were deployed in South Vietnam, a number second only to the U.S. forces.
ベトナム戦争時の韓国軍に関する公文書は全米各地に点在している
Various official documents on the ROK army during the Vietnam War can be found in many locations in the U.S. I tried to find time in between my regular duties as the Washington Bureau chief to visit various archives in Washington and Maryland nearby. I also visited libraries and archives of U.S. military bases or sent researchers to these places, making copies of a considerable volume of documents and browsing through them.
ジョン・Ｆ・ケネディ大統領(六一～六三年)やリンドン・Ｂ・
Records of exchanges at all levels, from letters of the key persons at that time – such as President John F. Kennedy (1960-63), President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-69), and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (1961-68) – to memos of diplomats and military officers gave me a real sense of the situation at that time that was impossible for textbooks or history books to convey.
最初に集中的に読み込んだのは、
At first, I focused on reading and analyzing diplomatic documents of the White House and the State Department. What I found out was that the U.S. government at that time was having serious trouble dealing with the South Korean soldiers’ behavior in Vietnam.
韓国兵の蛮行の記録は派兵が本格化された六五年から早くも始まっ
Records of South Korean soldiers’ atrocities began soon after full-fledged deployment in 1965. There were numerous records of all sorts of criminal acts, from the massacre and rape of citizens in the field, to counterfeiting of currency in Saigon and other cities, to selling supplies on the black market and peddling of drugs.
米軍司令部は韓国軍司令部に対して繰り返し書簡を送り、
The U.S. military command sent many letters to the ROK army command, asking for punishment of offenders and measures to prevent recurrence but the situation continued to deteriorate.
七〇年には、アメリカ連邦議会下院の外交委員会で、
In 1970, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs even set up a special team to investigate the ROK army’s atrocities.
ただ、
However, most of the diplomatic documents concerned killings and economic crimes. I could not find any record of the ROK army’s comfort stations.
そこで、私はリサーチの目先を変えてみた。
Therefore, I changed the focus of my research. I thought if the ROK soldiers’ actions were a problem, there must have been criminal or court records. From spring 2014, I began to look into criminal records of the U.S. military government and the military police. I copied the documents in chronological order and read through them. They gave an even more vivid picture of the rapes, assaults, thefts, stealing of military supplies, and other crimes committed by South Korean soldiers.
サイゴンの「韓国軍慰安所」
“ROK Army Comfort Station” in Saigon
そして、七月二十五日深夜。誰もいない支局の小部屋で、
In the middle of the night on July 25, I was reading the criminal records page by page alone, as usual, in a small room in the Washington Bureau office. I came across a letter.
その書簡は、サイゴン（現ホーチミン市）
This letter was sent by the U.S. forces command in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) to the ROK forces commander in Saigon. The addressee was Lt. Gen. Chae Myung Shin, the highest commander of ROK forces in Vietnam.
この書簡には日付の記載がなかったが、
While there was no date on this letter, the letter was most probably written between January and April in 1969, based on the other documents arranged in chronological order and other information I obtained on the subject matter in this letter.
書簡の主題は、韓国兵が関与した経済事件に関するもので、
The main topic of the letter was economic crimes the South Korean soldiers were involved in. A large amount of U.S. military exchange merchandise was being sold on black market currency exchange rates. One establishment where such criminal activities took place was the Turkish Bath in downtown Saigon.
この「トルコ風呂」について書簡は、「売春行為が行われていて、
According to the letter, “prostitutes are available and Vietnamese women work there.”
そして、主題である通貨不正事件の捜査のために、
「この施設は、韓国軍による、韓国兵専用の慰安所（
A joint investigation by the U.S. forces and the Vietnamese customs authorities found that “the Turkish Bath was a Republic of Korea Army Welfare Center for the sole benefit of Korean troops.”
何度も読み返したが、間違いなく、米軍司令部が捜査に基づいて、
I was amazed, so I read through the letter several times. Based on its investigation, the U.S. military command determined that the establishment was a “comfort station for Korean troops.”
米軍司令部は「韓国軍の慰安所」
The U.S. military command’s conclusion was based on the following:
まず、押収資料の中から、
First, one of the seized documents, signed by the ROK army’s assistant special services officer, indicated that the Turkish Bath was an ROK army welfare center for the sole benefit of Korean troops.
さらに、家宅捜索でこの施設から押収された物資について、
Furthermore, documents signed by a senior ROK military officer were produced at the Vietnamese customs building in an attempt to secure the release of the goods confiscated during the raid.
その上で米軍司令部は、韓国軍の最高司令官蔡命新に対して、
The U.S. military command further provided the Korean commander with the names of six colonels, lieutenant colonels, and other military officers thought to be involved with the economic crimes. Since this was a letter notifying the commander of an allied force about the crimes committed by his subordinates, it must have been solidly based on an investigation and evidence.
今回、米国の公文書によって初めてその存在が明らかになった、
How was the ROK army comfort station in Saigon that has come to light through a U.S. archive document operated?
すぐにでもホーチミンに飛んで現地取材したかったが、
I would have wanted to fly to Vietnam immediately to investigate, but as the Washington Bureau chief, it was difficult to take leave from my job for an extended period. Therefore, I began research to find out if there was anybody in the U.S. who was knowledgeable about the sex industry in Saigon at that time or who knew about the establishment in question.
まず、当時の米軍関係者とベトナム系アメリカ人に照準を絞って、
I focused first on former U.S. military personnel and Vietnamese-Americans and looked for Vietnam-related networks in the U.S. I attended the relevant forums, looked into the databases of the U.S. government’s Department of Veteran Affairs, and sent letters and e-mails to people with known contact information who might know. I also placed an advertisement in a newspaper in the Vietnamese community in Virginia outside Washington, asking for information. Shortly after, an American who saw the
ad sent me an e-mail.
ハンス・イケス氏（70）。六〇
Hans Ekes [spelling not confirmed], 70, was sent by an American communication infrastructure company to Saigon in the late 1960s. Ekes, who traveled back and forth between Vietnam and the U.S. for several years, is a pensioner living in eastern Virginia. He talked at length about what Saigon was like, since the city made a strong impression on him as a young man. However, when we asked about the Turkish Bath, he suddenly lowered his voice and became wary of people around us.
「『トルコ風呂』は、当時サイゴンにいた人の間では、『
“At that time, people in Saigon called the Turkish Bath a ‘steam and cream parlor’ because it was a place where you could avail yourself of the sexual services of young Vietnamese women.”
トルコ風呂の実態については徐々に明らかになってきたが、
It became clear from the statements that the Turkish baths in Saigon at that time were another name for brothels, like in Japan in the past. However, I had difficulty finding someone who knew about the ROK army’s comfort station.
作業を続けて半年程経った頃、
About six months after I started the research, I received an e-mail from a U.S. veteran who fought in the Vietnam War.
アンドリュー・フィンライソン氏（71）。
Andrew Finlayson, 71, served with the U.S. Marines’ infantry unit in the Vietnam War for two years and eight months from 1967 and fought in various locations in South Vietnam. After leaving the military, he served in military adviser groups in conflict areas. He is a researcher and has published books on the Vietnam War. He agreed to be interviewed.
「休息と回復期間」の兵士
Soldiers’ “Rest and Recuperation”
朝晩の冷え込みが厳しくなってきた昨年初冬、
In early winter last year, when it was becoming cold in the mornings and evenings, Finlayson, wearing a black turtleneck sweater and a jacket, appeared at a small hotel in Virginia. He looked like an affable gentleman but his thick chest and piercing eyes disclosed that he was a former marine officer.
その体躯とはうらはらに、フィンライソン氏の語り口は、
Contrary to his looks, Finlayson, a researcher, spoke quietly with the manner of an intellectual. He said:
「韓国軍の慰安所は、確かにサイゴンにありました。
“There was indeed a ROK army comfort station in Saigon. I knew about it very well.”
南ベトナム各地の農村の偵察部隊の責任者として、
Finlayson was responsible for reconnaissance teams in the rural villages in South Vietnam, so he was involved with liaison with the ROK army and was familiar with the situation at that time.
「米軍司令官が指摘している韓国の慰安所とは、
“The ROK army comfort station cited by the U.S. military commander was a major sexual facility for the South Korean soldiers. It was precisely a facility for providing sexual services to these soldiers.”
フィンライソン氏によれば、問題の施設は、
According to Finlayson, it was a Turkish bath of an enormous size. However, according to Finlayson, there was an even bigger facility in another location in Saigon. These facilities were divided into blocs inside. Around 20 Vietnamese women worked in each bloc.
韓国軍が、
When asked why the ROK army had to set up large comfort stations in Saigon, Finlayson responded immediately:
「韓国兵がベトナム女性をレイプしたり、
“This was to prevent South Korean soldiers from raping Vietnamese women or having individual sexual relations with them. There was also concern that South Korean officers might keep prostitutes as mistresses in Vietnamese villages. These things might develop into political trouble between the Vietnamese society and the ROK army.
「また性病の蔓延も重大な懸念でした。
“Venereal diseases were also a serious concern for the armed forces. It would be possible to manage the health of the comfort women at the comfort stations. At that time, venereal disease was a serious problem in South Vietnam. Syphilis was particularly rampant.”
ベトナム戦争当時、一定期間前線で戦った韓国軍の兵士は、「
During the Vietnam War, South Korean soldiers who fought on the front lines for a certain period of time were allowed to leave the battlefield for R&R (rest and recuperation) in Saigon. Apparently, the ROK army set up comfort stations in Saigon for the soldiers so that they would not make trouble in Saigon and the nearby villages while on R&R and to prevent the spread of venereal disease.
では韓国兵士の相手をさせられたベトナム人の慰安婦とは、
Who were the Vietnamese women made to serve the South Korean soldiers?
フィンライソン氏は、
Finlayson said they were almost invariably young girls from the rural villages in Vietnam.
「
“Women who worked in these brothels were almost invariably very young girls from the rural areas.
彼女達が施設に来た理由は様々です。
“They were there for various reasons. There were girls who were sold by their families due to poverty. Some went there of their own free will. They lost their jobs and became comfort women. For sure, there were also women who were deceived and brought there.”
同書簡には、この施設は韓国兵専用の慰安所として設立されたが、
The letter mentioned earlier wrote that while this facility was set up as a comfort station for the sole benefit of the Korean troops, U.S. soldiers and members of other allied forces were given special access, in which case, they were charged $38 each time. Finlayson explained why this happened.
施設に行った事があるという別の米軍ＯＢは、
A U.S. veteran who had once gone to the facility provided the following information on the condition of anonymity:
「ほとんどが十代の少女だった。十六歳だという少女もいたし、
“Most of the women who worked in the Turkish baths were girls from the rural villages under 20 years old. Some said they were 16 and others looked even younger. Many soldiers went so gaga over these simple petite girls that they were ridiculed as having the ‘yellow fever’.”
ニュージャージー州に住む七十代前半のこの人物は、
This man in his 70s and living in New Jersey said that the comfort station in question was a large-scale facility including several adjacent buildings, and an annex across the street. On later investigation, I confirmed that the building housing this facility actually still exists today, and that this facility was operated together with two adjacent buildings and there was also an annex across the street, matching his description. I felt that his incredible account that the majority of the
Vietnamese comfort women were minors was reliable.
韓国軍慰安所が友軍の兵士を受け入れた理由については、
Finlayson gave the following reasons for why friendly forces were accepted at a Korean Comfort Women facility.
韓国の国家としての意思
South Korean Government Policy?
「『休息期間』
“There were seasonal fluctuations in the number of South Korean soldiers coming to Saigon for R&R. Therefore, this facility set up for the exclusive use of ROK troops came to accept soldiers of the allied forces during low seasons.”
私が投げかけるあらゆる質問に対して、
Finlayson was unequivocal in answering all my questions. His explanation also corresponded completely with what I had learned from archive documents and interviews with informed sources.
もちろん、韓国軍による慰安所設置の経緯、規模、運営実態など、
After the 90-minute meeting with Finlayson, I felt that several of the questions I had had throughout my 15 months of information gathering were answered. For sure, many facts still need to be uncovered regarding how the ROK army set up the comfort stations, their size, and how they were operated. However, there is no doubt that what could be called “urban comfort stations” set up by the ROK army existed in Saigon during the Vietnam War.
では、韓国軍の慰安所経営について、
So, how do the Vietnamese feel about the ROK army’s comfort stations? I asked Dr. Nguyen Goc Bich, a former Vietnamese government official who now resides in Washington.
ビック博士とは、
I met Bich at a forum commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War in Washington last summer. He was born in the port city of Danang in central Vietnam and grew up in Saigon. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1958, shortly before the Vietnam War intensified. He is a scholar who taught Asian literature at several U.S. universities after studying at Colombia University and Kyoto University.
ベトナム戦争時の韓国軍による虐殺などの蛮行については詳しく知
He was familiar with the killings and other atrocities committed by the ROK army during the Vietnam War but did not know about the comfort stations. Bich is a pleasant gray-haired gentleman, but after reading the letter in question, his facial expression hardened.
「韓国軍がベトナム人に対して酷いことをしたのであれば、
“If the South Korean army had indeed done those terrible things to the Vietnamese, our people will absolutely not overlook this fact.
アメリカ在住のベトナム人団体の議長も務めるビック博士は、
Bich, who also chairs an organization of Vietnamese in America, said that the Vietnamese people “talk about events 2,000 years ago as if they happened yesterday.”
「犯罪や酷い行為が行われたのならば、
“If crimes and hideous acts were committed, evil is evil whether Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese or Americans were responsible.”
「我々は良心に従って韓国と向き合い、調査し、交渉をして、
“We must talk to the ROK, conduct investigations, negotiate, and find out the facts following our conscience. This issue cannot be resolved and will continue to poison bilateral relations unless we find out the truth.”
ビック博士が最も強調したのが、慰安所設置に踏み切った、
Bich was most interested in whether the setting up of comfort stations was a ROK government decision.
「一部の不良がやっていた違法行為でなく、
“If this was not an act by a bunch of bad guys and was the result of an ROK government policy, it should not be overlooked. There is no way to justify such an act if the state was involved.”
「軍の規律維持」と「性病防止」のために、
If the ROK government and army were involved in the systematic operation of comfort stations for the sake of maintaining the armed forces’ discipline and preventing venereal disease, this was certainly a government action. And this was a system that was exactly the same as the Japanese Imperial Army’s comfort stations that the ROK government has criticized relentlessly.
だがそれもそのはず、当時の大統領・朴正煕は、
Perhaps this was understandable. The president at that time, Park Chung-hee, fought in Manchuria as a member of the Japanese army during the Pacific War after he graduated from a military academy in Japan. He must have been very familiar with the operation and functions of the Japanese army’s comfort stations. Commander Chae Myung Shin, the addressee of the letter, was given a high level position shortly after Park Chung-hee succeeded in his coup d’etat in 1961. He was one of Park’s closest
confidants.
蔡命新は、九四年に執筆した自叙伝『死線幾たび』の中で、
Chae admitted that the ROK army set up comfort stations during the Korean War in his autobiography published in 1994.
朝鮮戦争終結後、
It would be quite natural for the ROK army, which participated in the Vietnam War less than 10 years after the end of the Korean War, to operate comfort stations. It can be said that the decision to operate comfort stations was made during the Vietnam War precisely because Park and Chae headed the government and the armed forces at that time.
一方、朴正煕の娘である朴槿恵大統領は、私が渡米して以降も、
Meanwhile, Park Chung-hee’s daughter, President Park Geun-hye, has persisted in criticizing harshly the Japanese army’s comfort stations in the international community. She told the world in her address to the UN General Assembly last fall:
「戦時の女性に対する性暴力は、時代、地域を問わず、 明らかに人権と人道主義に反する行為だ」
“Sexual violence against women in wartime is a clear violation of human rights and humanism regardless of time and place.”
韓国軍によるベトナムでの慰安所経営がアメリカの公文書によって
Now that an official U.S. document has shown that the ROK army operated a comfort station in Vietnam, President Park has to take responsibility for her own words.
彼女が慰安婦問題を、反日を煽る内政や外交のツールではなく、
If she truly regards the comfort women issue as a human rights issue and not as a tool in domestic politics and foreign affairs, she ought to think of the young Vietnamese girls who serviced the South Korean soldiers in Saigon. How many girls were made to work as comfort women under what circumstances? Were there not women forced to become comfort women against their will? She should take the lead in investigating their working conditions, just like what was done for the former South Korean comfort women.
そして、韓国軍慰安所と日本軍慰安所は、
She ought to investigate the similarities and differences between the South Korean and Japanese comfort stations and find out what were the issues with these facilities. I believe it is only by taking an impartial approach that the comfort women issue in both countries can be sorted out and the foundation for the two countries to achieve true reconciliation can be laid.
しかし、もし韓国政府がこの問題を黙殺したり、
However, if the ROK government suppresses this issue and denies it without even conducting an investigation, it will be proving to the international community that it is the ROK that is a country that turns a blind eye to inconvenient facts and refuses to face history squarely.
