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88-year-old Yi Ok-seon shows me a scar she says she got when a Japanese soldier slashed her arm with a sword some seventy years ago.(Source: CNTV.cn)
BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- An estimated 200,000 women from around Asia were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during the Second World War. And more than 70 years later, victims are still demanding an apology from the Japanese government.
CCTV correspondent U-Jean Jung visited a survivor now living in South Korea's "House of Sharing" to listen to her story.
Yi Ok-seon, 88, has a scar she says she got when a Japanese soldier slashed her arm with a sword some 70 years ago.
"Those 'comfort stations' weren't built for humans. They were slaughterhouses used to destroy people," Yi said.
"Not many soldiers came on weekdays. Maybe one or two. But on weekends, many came. They would line up outside on weekends."
Seven decades on, despite the shelter provided here in what is known as the "House of Sharing," where she lives together with other victims in South Korea. Yi is still haunted by nightmares.
"I see my scars every morning. Killing everyone of them with my own hands will still not tame my anger."
"Of the 238 women who registered themselves as victims with the South Korean government, less than 50 are alive today. And among those survivors, only a few are strong enough—both physically and mentally—to voice their demands to the Japanese government."
Other victims living in Seoul, like Gil Won-ok and Kim Bok-dong, have been staging peaceful protests outside the Japanese embassy for the past 24 years, fighting for an apology.
"The most important point is that Japan is denying its responsibility," said Lee Mi-Hyang, Chief of Council for Women drafted for sex slavery by Japan.
"Instead, they are attacking the victims again by making absurd remarks that it was legal, and that the women voluntarily chose that path to earn money."
Japan says the issue was resolved when Seoul and Tokyo signed the treaty on basic relations in 1965.
But the victims, now in their 80s and 90s, say they will continue to fight for an official apology and compensation, which they hope to get before they die.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
