Advocacy group pushes for justice on "comfort women" memorial day in San Francisco
                 Source: Xinhua | 2017-08-15 22:35:55 | Editor: huaxia

The "Comfort Women" Justice Coalition, a grassroots advocacy group consisting of more than a dozen multi-ethnic community organizations, organizes a rally to mark the Aug. 14 International "Comfort Women" Memorial Day in San Francisco, the United States, on Aug. 14, 2017. (Xinhua/Xu Yong)

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- An advocacy group on Monday mobilized a rally outside the Japanese consulate in San Francisco in order to seek justice for "comfort women," a euphemism for the women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Army of Japan during the 1930s through the end of the WWII.

Organized by the "Comfort Women" Justice Coalition, or CWJC, a local grassroots advocacy group consisting of more than 30 multi-ethnic community organizations, the rally took place on the sidewalk of a street in downtown San Francisco, a city on the U.S. West Coast, in front of an office building where the Japanese Consulate General is housed.

The atmosphere was somber, as organizers put up pictures of four former "comfort women" who survived raping and other atrocities during the war. The pictures were of Chen Lien-Hua, one of the three known "comfort women" in Taiwan, a province of China, who died on April 20 this year at age 93; and Kim Haksoon, a Korean woman forcefully taken by Japanese soldiers and confined to a "comfort station" of the Imperial Amy at age 17. Kim died in December 1997 at age 73.

Kim was the first among surviving "comfort women" to go public about her story in August 1991, and one of the first to join a class-action lawsuit in December that year against the Japanese government.

The day Kim being the first to break silence, Aug. 14, thereby igniting the "comfort women" justice struggle, was designated the International Memorial Day for "Comfort Women" in 2012 by the 11th Asian Alliance Conference for "Comfort Women."

The "Comfort Women" Justice Coalition, a grassroots advocacy group consisting of more than a dozen multi-ethnic community organizations, organizes a rally to mark the Aug. 14 International "Comfort Women" Memorial Day in San Francisco, the United States, on Aug. 14, 2017. (Xinhua/Xu Yong)

As the memorial day fell on Monday this year, the CWJC rallied in front of the Japanese consulate, pushing for "truth and justice," as the aged victims are passing away without seeing any closure to their ordeals, because history deniers denigrate them as "paid prostitutes" or "willing volunteers."

On Aug. 12, two days before the memorial day, Huang Youliang, one of former Chinese "comfort women" who shared her wartime experiences and joined the lawsuit, died at her home in Hainan, a southern province of China, at age 90. With her death, there are 14 remaining known former "comfort women" on the Chinese mainland.

Historians say that as many as 200,000 women, mostly from the Korean Peninsula as well as from China and Southeast Asian nations, were forced into sex enslavement for Japan's Imperial Army during the devastating war.

The "Comfort Women" Justice Coalition, a grassroots advocacy group consisting of more than a dozen multi-ethnic community organizations, organizes a rally to mark the Aug. 14 International "Comfort Women" Memorial Day in San Francisco, the United States, on Aug. 14, 2017. (Xinhua/Xu Yong)

To raise public awareness over the issue, the CWJC has been working with the City of San Francisco to build a memorial dedicated to "comfort women." Depicting three girls - Korean, Chinese and Philippine - and a senior woman, Kim Haksoon, the statue was approved by the city's Board of Supervisors two years ago and is expected to be erected in a public plaza by the end of this year.

"Time is of the essence. Japan must stop denying history and work with all the remaining victim women from all the affected countries in Asia," noted the CWJC in a statement. "To deny history is to repeat history, and the practice of sexual slavery and sexual violence during wartime must be stopped once and for all."

Lillian Sing and Julie Tang, both retired judges of the Superior Court of San Francisco County and co-chairs of the CWJC, said at the rally that "justice delayed is justice denied."

Back to Top Close
Xinhuanet

Advocacy group pushes for justice on "comfort women" memorial day in San Francisco

Source: Xinhua 2017-08-15 22:35:55

The "Comfort Women" Justice Coalition, a grassroots advocacy group consisting of more than a dozen multi-ethnic community organizations, organizes a rally to mark the Aug. 14 International "Comfort Women" Memorial Day in San Francisco, the United States, on Aug. 14, 2017. (Xinhua/Xu Yong)

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- An advocacy group on Monday mobilized a rally outside the Japanese consulate in San Francisco in order to seek justice for "comfort women," a euphemism for the women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Army of Japan during the 1930s through the end of the WWII.

Organized by the "Comfort Women" Justice Coalition, or CWJC, a local grassroots advocacy group consisting of more than 30 multi-ethnic community organizations, the rally took place on the sidewalk of a street in downtown San Francisco, a city on the U.S. West Coast, in front of an office building where the Japanese Consulate General is housed.

The atmosphere was somber, as organizers put up pictures of four former "comfort women" who survived raping and other atrocities during the war. The pictures were of Chen Lien-Hua, one of the three known "comfort women" in Taiwan, a province of China, who died on April 20 this year at age 93; and Kim Haksoon, a Korean woman forcefully taken by Japanese soldiers and confined to a "comfort station" of the Imperial Amy at age 17. Kim died in December 1997 at age 73.

Kim was the first among surviving "comfort women" to go public about her story in August 1991, and one of the first to join a class-action lawsuit in December that year against the Japanese government.

The day Kim being the first to break silence, Aug. 14, thereby igniting the "comfort women" justice struggle, was designated the International Memorial Day for "Comfort Women" in 2012 by the 11th Asian Alliance Conference for "Comfort Women."

The "Comfort Women" Justice Coalition, a grassroots advocacy group consisting of more than a dozen multi-ethnic community organizations, organizes a rally to mark the Aug. 14 International "Comfort Women" Memorial Day in San Francisco, the United States, on Aug. 14, 2017. (Xinhua/Xu Yong)

As the memorial day fell on Monday this year, the CWJC rallied in front of the Japanese consulate, pushing for "truth and justice," as the aged victims are passing away without seeing any closure to their ordeals, because history deniers denigrate them as "paid prostitutes" or "willing volunteers."

On Aug. 12, two days before the memorial day, Huang Youliang, one of former Chinese "comfort women" who shared her wartime experiences and joined the lawsuit, died at her home in Hainan, a southern province of China, at age 90. With her death, there are 14 remaining known former "comfort women" on the Chinese mainland.

Historians say that as many as 200,000 women, mostly from the Korean Peninsula as well as from China and Southeast Asian nations, were forced into sex enslavement for Japan's Imperial Army during the devastating war.

The "Comfort Women" Justice Coalition, a grassroots advocacy group consisting of more than a dozen multi-ethnic community organizations, organizes a rally to mark the Aug. 14 International "Comfort Women" Memorial Day in San Francisco, the United States, on Aug. 14, 2017. (Xinhua/Xu Yong)

To raise public awareness over the issue, the CWJC has been working with the City of San Francisco to build a memorial dedicated to "comfort women." Depicting three girls - Korean, Chinese and Philippine - and a senior woman, Kim Haksoon, the statue was approved by the city's Board of Supervisors two years ago and is expected to be erected in a public plaza by the end of this year.

"Time is of the essence. Japan must stop denying history and work with all the remaining victim women from all the affected countries in Asia," noted the CWJC in a statement. "To deny history is to repeat history, and the practice of sexual slavery and sexual violence during wartime must be stopped once and for all."

Lillian Sing and Julie Tang, both retired judges of the Superior Court of San Francisco County and co-chairs of the CWJC, said at the rally that "justice delayed is justice denied."

010020070750000000000000011105521365287581