This study examines the representation of the Japanese military “Comfort Women” (Japanese Military Sexual Slavery) in eight high school Korean History 2 textbooks that passed the 2024 screening under the 2022 Revised Curriculum, by comparing them with Japanese textbooks approved in 2022 (Japan History Inquiry, World History Inquiry) and China’s state-authored textbook (An Outline of the History of China and the World (Part 1)). The historical issues among Korea, China, and Japan are intricately interconnected. Recently, China has strengthened its anti-Japanese warfare narrative and positioned itself prominently as a key stakeholder in the Japanese military Comfort Women (Japanese Military Sexual Slavery) issue. Nevertheless, research on the Japanese military Comfort Women (Japanese Military Sexual Slavery) in textbooks has remained confined to Korea-Japan comparisons. This study analyzes the three countries' textbooks through three criteria—the manner of state intervention, the reflection of scholarly achievements, and the representation of victims—and situates Korean textbooks within this comparative framework.
The analysis reveals that while all three countries regulate historical narratives through state involvement, their approaches differ significantly. Japan controls the reduction of relevant accounts through the 2014 screening standards and the April 2021 cabinet decision. China mandates explicit reference to Japanese war crimes and the definition of sexual slavery under its state-authored system. Korea exhibits pronounced disparities among textbooks due to the broadening of achievement standards. In terms of reflecting scholarly achievements, Japan’s state control even obstructs the incorporation of established consensus, while China accepts only legal definitions while largely excluding empirical findings from Chinese scholarship. Korea reflects empirical achievements regarding the institutionalization process of Comfort Women stations and broader concepts of coercion; however, the gender and colonial sexual politics perspective that emerged in full force after the 2010s has not yet been established as a lens for textbook narratives. In victim representation, the three countries’ textbooks situate “Comfort Women” (Japanese Military Sexual Slavery) differently within their national narratives. However, Korean textbooks distinguish themselves by prominently portraying survivors as active agents in justice movements, unlike their Chinese and Japanese counterparts. This comparative analysis identifies future tasks for Korean textbooks: integrating the perspective of sexual politics into textbook narratives and expanding the scope of victims beyond Korea to encompass East Asia as a whole.