Seijuro Arafune was a Japanese politician and a Minister of Transport. He was a member of Liberal Democratic Party. Arafune resigned the Minister of Transport by the alleged abuse of power in 1966. Among these was requiring a National Railway express train to make regular stops at a station located in his own parliamentary constituency. Among his most controversial actions was making a now discredited claim about the death toll of Comfort women has been widely spread and many books wrote "142,000 Korean comfort women were killed by the Japanese army" or "Only about 25 per cent of Comfort women have survived".
He made a public speech at his home constituency regarding the death toll of Comfort women in 1965:
They say Koreans were drafted by Japan during the war and taken from Korea to work, and those who worked well were used as soldiers, and 576,000 of those soldiers are now dead. There are claims that 142,000 Korean comfort women are dead, killed by the Japanese military's sexual abuses.
None of Arafune figures have any basis whatsoever. During the 1965 Korea-Japan Treaty negotiations, Korea's position was that 1,032,684 Koreans had been recruited to serve as laborers, soldiers, and personnel, and that 102,603 of these had been injured or had died. This figure disagree with his figure 576,000. Moreover, at that time, no mention was made of comfort women. However many reports and books cited this figure directly or indirectly as if the figure is a fact. Some examples are as follows:
Karen Parker and Jennifer Chew wrote "Only about 25 per cent of these women are said to have survived these daily abuses." citing the Arafune's statement.
UN Special Rapporteur Gay J. McDougall wrote in her report to the Commission on Human Rights "Only about 25 per cent of these women are said to have survived these daily abuses." citing a book written by Karen Parker and Jennifer Chew.
Stephanie Wolfe wrote "Karen Parker and Jennifer F. Chew state that of the approximately 200,000 women enslaved, only one-quarter survived their captivity and of these survivors, only 2,000 women were still alive in 1944.5 Today,..."
Joseph P. Nearey wrote "Some historians believe that only thirty percent of the women survived the war. One member of the Japanese Diet, Representative Seijuro Arafune, publicly stated that as many as 145,000 sex slaves died during World War II." citing a book written by Karen Parker and Jennifer Chew.
Kelly Dawn Askin wrote "Repeatedly raped, tortured and abused, nearly seventy-five percent of the former 'comfort' women perished." citing a book written by Karen Parker and Jennifer F. Chew.
Anne-Marie de Brouwer wrote "It is estimated that only 25 percent of the comfort women survived" citing a book written by Kelly Dawn Askin.
Therese Park wrote "One should remember that only about 25% of the estimated 200,000 comfort women survived: some were murdered by the army so as not to leave traces of the crimes, others died as “collateral damage” during the war, and many contracted deadly diseases or committed suicide." without citing the source.
In a lawsuit filed on September 19, 2000, Former comfort women HWANG Geum Joo, et al. estimated "only 25% to 35% of the "comfort women" survived the war, and those who did suffered health effects, including damage to reproductive organs and sexually transmitted diseases." without citing the source.
His tale is attributed to his propensity to use irresponsible numbers when he make a public speech. The former speaker of the House of Representatives Hajime Tamura wrote in ahis book:
