SOUTH KOREA: South Korea's former comfort women mark their 22-years of weekly protests, demanding that Japan give them an official apology and compensation
Record ID:
214140
SOUTH KOREA: South Korea's former comfort women mark their 22-years of weekly protests, demanding that Japan give them an official apology and compensation
- Title: SOUTH KOREA: South Korea's former comfort women mark their 22-years of weekly protests, demanding that Japan give them an official apology and compensation
- Date: 8th January 2014
- Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (JANUARY 8, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ANTI-JAPAN PROTESTERS INCLUDING FORMER COMFORT WOMEN CHANTING VARIOUS OF COMFORT WOMEN BLOWING OUT CANDLES PROTESTERS HOLDING UP BANNER SHOWING "22" EXTERIOR OF JAPANESE EMBASSY IN SEOUL JAPANESE NATIONAL FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) FORMER COMFORT WOMAN, 89-YEAR-OLD KIM BOK-DONG, SAYING: "It hasn't been resolved for 22 years. I cannot tell how frustrating it is. I hope the Japanese government will repent its wrongdoings and officially apologise." VARIOUS PROTEST COMFORT WOMAN SITTING PLACARD READING (English): "JUSTICE FOR COMFORT WOMEN" VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING
- Embargoed: 23rd January 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Korea, Republic of
- Country: South Korea
- Topics: History,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAALM20HDU937QYRR4MEZDF2GC4
- Story Text: South Korea's former comfort women marked their 22nd year of weekly protests on Wednesday (January 8), demanding an official apology and compensation from the Japanese government.
Every Wednesday for more than two decades, the ageing women, who were forced into sexual slavery in brothels run by the Japanese army in World War Two, have gathered outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
Their numbers have dwindled since their first protest on January 8, 1992, and this week only two of the former comfort women joined the rally. Two hundred and 34 women who were abused by the Japanese registered to participate in the first rally 22 years ago, but of those only 56 are still alive.
More than two hundred activists and citizens took part in Wednesday's rally to show their support for the women.
"It hasn't been resolved for 22 years. I cannot tell how frustrating it is. I hope the Japanese government will repent its wrongdoings and officially apologise," 89-year-old Kim Bok-dong, a former comfort woman, told media at the rally.
Historians estimate that as many as 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery in the Imperial Japanese Army's brothels before and during World War Two.
The weekly protest was halted only once in 1995 when an earthquake hit western Japan, destroying much of the city of Kobe.
Japan, which ruled the Korean peninsula as a colony from 1910-1945, has refused to be drawn on the issue which has been a constant thorn in the side of relations between the neighbours. Tokyo says it was fully resolved by a 1965 treaty.
Japan acknowledged in 1993 that the state played a role in forcing Korean and Chinese women into military brothels and set up a fund to provide compensation to survivors in 1995. However, Japan has refused to pay direct compensation to survivors. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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