Google Apologizes to South Korea for Mistranslation of Sex Slave as Prostitute

Google under fire for referring to wartime sex slave as ‘prostitute’

SEOUL, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) — U.S. tech giant Google Inc. came under fire Monday for describing a victim of Japan’s sexual slavery during World War II as a “prostitute” in its Korean-based search engine, which the firm claims was caused by an “error” in its algorithm.

Earlier Monday, Google’s search engine described the late Moon Ok-ju, an activist and victim of Japan’s enslavement of Korean women, as a “prostitute” on its Korean-language platform.

Comfort Woman Invited to Trump’s State Dinner in S. Korea Causes Japanese Outrage

In an official statement, Google said its search results may differ from actual facts and claimed that search results are produced automatically through its algorithm. The description was removed after the matter came to light.

The company said it will continue to make efforts to improve the quality of its search engine. The U.S. company, however, did not provide details on how its search algorithm led to the latest controversy.

Moon, who passed away in 1996, spent her life standing up for victims after being taken to China and Myanmar by Japanese forces during the war. Historians estimate that up to 200,000 women, mainly from Korea, were forced to work in frontline brothels for Japanese soldiers.

Moon’s detailed testimonies are considered to have played a great role in revealing the truth behind Japan’s enslavement of women.

A screen capture of Google Inc.'s Korean-language search engine on Jan. 8, 2018, which describes a victim of Japan's sexual slavery during World War II as a "prostitute" in Korean. (Yonhap)

A screen capture of Google Inc.’s Korean-language search engine on Jan. 8, 2018, which describes a victim of Japan’s sexual slavery during World War II as a “prostitute” in Korean. (Yonhap)

Comfort Woman Invited to Trump’s State Dinner in S. Korea Causes Japanese Outrage

Today, multiple Japanese news outlets are reporting that South Korea’s invitation of “a former ‘comfort woman,’ who has spoken widely of her suffering from being forced into sex slavery by the Japanese during World War II, to a state banquet it hosted for U.S. President Donald Trump,” has prompted Japan to lodge a diplomatic protest to South Korea.

A “comfort woman” is defined as any woman forced into sex slavery to provide “comfort” at designated “comfort stations” to Japanese soldiers during World War II.

While the extent of the harm done by this practice is continually being revised to this day, most sources quote the number of women affected by this practice to be approximately 200,000, estimating that Korean women were the most victimized, followed by Chinese women, and then Japanese women, although other women living in Asian countries under Japanese control were victimized as well.

In 2015, Japan and South Korea reached a diplomatic agreement that Japan would apologize and provide reparations to South Korea totaling one billion dollars. As part of this agreement, South Korea would in turn discontinue criticism of Japan in the international community and would agree to the removal of a prominent statue.

The Kyodo Times reports, “The attendance of the 88-year-old Korean woman, Lee Yong Soo, at the banquet, which was later confirmed, may complicate South Korea’s ties with Japan and their joint efforts with the United States to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.”