A Turbid River of History and Law: The Procurement of Women in Imperial Japan and Colonial Korea.

This article examines the legal frameworks and judicial treatment of prostitution contracts and human trafficking related to the procurement of women in imperial Japan and colonial Korea, situating the wartime "comfort women" issue within a broader historical context of state-regulated prostitution and social-economic coercion. It analyzes how prewar Japanese law recognized women as independent contractors bound by indentured contracts often guaranteed by impoverished parents, and how colonial Korea’s transplantation of this system, combined with local customs and weak enforcement, led to rampant trafficking and exploitation. The article highlights judicial struggles to balance contractual freedom, parental authority, and protection of vulnerable women, revealing complexities in distinguishing coercion from choice amid poverty and patriarchal norms. It also discusses legal cases of abduction and trafficking, noting the ambiguous relationship between civilian brokers and military comfort stations, and calls for nuanced historiographical approaches that move beyond simplistic or polarized narratives.