http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/01/13/2010011300790.html
Kim Hak-soon,Kim Hak-Sun 金学順（キム・ハクスン、김학순、1924年-1997年12月16日）
Kim Hak-sun, a former "comfort woman" forced to work in brothels serving the Japanese military during World War II, held a press conference at the headquarters of the Korean Women's Association United on Aug. 14, 1991. Facing a throng of reporters, Kim recalled the painful memories of being dragged away to China by Japanese soldiers when she was just 17 and forced to have sex with four to five soldiers a day. She was kept under watch 24 hours a day and was beaten almost to death after several failed escape attempts. "Until now, I did not have the courage to speak," Kim said, "I still shudder when I see the Japanese flag or hear anything related to comfort women."
After invading Manchuria in 1931, the Japanese military dragged close to 200,000 Korean women to battlefields in China and Southeast Asia. Ahead of former President Roh Tae-woo's visit to Japan in 1990, women's rights groups in Korea demanded an investigation, apology and compensation from the Japanese government for mobilizing the comfort women. The Japanese government denied any involvement, saying the atrocities were committed by "civilians." The following year, Kim became the first former comfort woman to go on the record speaking about the injustices she suffered. Soon, other former comfort women stepped up to deliver their testimony.
Former comfort women held their first protest rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Jan. 8, 1992, just before then-Japanese prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa visited Korea. Five days later, Japan's chief cabinet secretary delivered a statement acknowledging the involvement of the Japanese military, and Miyazawa apologized to Roh during their summit. But the Japanese government did not deliver an official apology and compensation as demanded by the former comfort women, so they continued their protest rallies every Wednesday.
The 900th protest rally takes place this Wednesday. It has been 18 long years since the first one. There were people who scoffed at the movement at first, but the protests, held every Wednesday come rain or shine, have gained international attention and become a living reminder of Japan's reluctance to atone for its past atrocities.
Over the years, the numbers of survivors declined from 234 in 1993 to just 87 now. Many of them are between the ages of 80 and 90 and no longer have the strength to attend the rallies. But the Japanese government has yet to offer a formal apology, while rightwing groups are trying to delete all references to "comfort women" in Japanese school textbooks. Will the passage of time wash the stains off Japan's history? The answer lies in the words of former comfort woman Gil Won-ok, who said, "If Japan refuses to repent for its past deeds, I'll come to the rallies even after I'm dead."
By Chosun Ilbo columnist Kim Tae-ick
englishnews@chosun.com / Jan. 13, 2010 12:53 KST
and even after they do. Others will still rise up, they have left their legacy and people will uphold it until they attain justice.
ReplyDeletehi,dear.
Deletei wonder what is your justice....
former comfort women, Ms.Kim Hak-sun was born in 1924, had been sold as Kisaeng in Pyongyang by her father at her age of 14.......
she had claimed that japan army forced comfort women like as sex slave for 5 months at her age of 17.
there is something time lag or contrariety in her testimony...
as a student of women's right, i am sure that never permit any sexual crime or human traffic.
but her father sold her to korean kisaeng manager,there was not any concerned with japanese army.
by the way, japan government had already paid tons of satisfaction to comfort women in 1965,;The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea.
but why they had not received their pension except a few found comfort women?
although 200000 comfort women are still living in korea now!!
who had put the big money from japan in his pocket????
sorry,ms.Kim Hak-sun had been sold by her MOTHER.
Deleteher father had passed at 100 days after her postnatal.
http://sakuramochi-jp.blogspot.jp/2012/02/former-comfort-woman-defraud-1500000_27.html
also, i have to ask you some question.
ReplyDeletehow your grandmother and father got American VISA or permanent residency.
so-called 200000 comfort women for japanese army, they must continued to work as comfort women after 1945, especially during in Korean war.
in 1950,it was said that one of ten women must work as a prostitute...
someone was kidnapped,sold,it was terrible times.
according to the statistics,there is a fact that 500000 korean women worked in sexually market in 1950, actually 1,000,000 women had engaged in 1960's.
you don't know the fact....
well again,how your grandmother and father got American VISA or permanent residency?
because of your aunt or relative had married with GI.....
japanese women had carried same guilt on our shoulders...