"We must record these things that were forced upon us."

- Hak-Soon KIM, sexual slave of the Japanese military

On Sunday, I visited the Nanumui Jip (The House of Sharing) in Gwang-ju, about an hour outside of Seoul. There, I heard and saw testimony of women who were forced into sexual slavery during the Japanese occupation of Korea between 1910 and 1945. Their story begins with the war in China - which began in 1937. Korea became a rear outpost for the Imperial armies and, as such, its people were seen as goods that could be bought, sold or traded as needed. It is estimated that approximately 200,000 women were sent to foreign lands throughout Asia to serve Japanese soldiers as they saw fit. Many women thought serving the military meant they would be cooking, cleaning or washing clothes - they soon discovered this meant becoming "Comfort Women" for soldiers and high ranking officers.

This term "Comfort Women" is one that is a bit controversial as the women certainly weren't comfortable with or comforted by the 30 to 50 men that came to their rooms to rape them everyday, day after day, year after year. For the sake of clarity, however, I will use the term throughout this blog entry. 

Only in the 1990s did information about Comfort Women come onto the international scene. Most of the survivors were living in poverty, had an incredible amount of shame, had no family to care for them and lived with physical and/or psychological ailments resulting from years of abuse. Only 220 women have come forward from the estimated 200,000 and 120 of them are still living today. Many women were believed to have been killed and buried in mass graves by soldiers when news came regarding Japan's defeat in 1944. Nine of the 120 women still alive in Korea live at the House Of Sharing. The first woman to come forward was Hak-Soon KIM, quoted at the beginning of this entry. She was instrumental in getting these women's message heard by the international community.

Women were sent abroad for a number of reasons. One of which was to prevent them from running away. Where do you go when you don't speak the language, have any local currency or have anyone to turn to?  They also took women from their homeland to other regions to prevent the rape of the local woman, which could cause a local resentment and uprising against the military. Many of these women were young girls, some as young as 14 who were reserved for high-ranking officers.

The Japanese government has yet to acknowledge its role in providing women as sexual slaves for its military and will probably never do so unless pressured by the foreign governments of the international community. Last year, 17 comfort women died and with them died a piece of unspoken history. The Japanese government created a public fund, the Asian Women's Fund, to compensate the women forced into sexual slavery but it is not a state fund and they certainly haven't admitted to any wrongful acts against women during their colonization.

I urge everyone who reads this blog to write their consulate, embassy or local politician to help get the horrible abuse these women experienced recognized by the government responsible for it.  Japan is a well-developed nation and part of the UN - it should admit their role. Please urge your consulate in Korea to visit the House of Sharing and visit with the halmonies (a term of endearment, meaning grandmothers) to hear their stories. Write a letter, send an email or sign a petition urging them to make changes.

The trafficking of sex slaves continues today. Maybe in not as many numbers but it certainly exists all around the world. If we can acknowledge history and make people accountable, we will be able to address the present situation and hopefully eliminate this violation of women's human rights in the future.

For more information about comfort women in Korea, here are some links:

www.nanum.org

http://web.amnesty.org/actforwomen/comfort_women-eng

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1851/context/archive