Taiwan opens its first comfort women museum

Record ID: 76656

  • Title: Taiwan opens its first comfort women museum
  • Date: 10th December 2016
  • Summary: CHEN LOOKING AT PICTURES MOUNTED ON CORRIDOR WALL
  • Embargoed: 25th December 2016 08:39
  • Keywords: Taiwan museum comfort woman South Korea Japan sex slavery war
  • Location: TAIPEI, TIAWAN
  • City: TAIPEI, TIAWAN
  • Country: Taiwan
  • Reuters ID: LVA0035CAVFWL
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Taiwan's first museum dedicated to the history and memory of "comfort women" opened in Taiwan on Saturday (December 10).
    "Comfort women" is a euphemism for those who were forced into sex slavery in Japan's wartime brothels, an issue that has long plagued ties between South Korea and Japan, as well as between China and Japan.
    Former comfort woman Chen Lien-Hua cut the red ribbon above a wooden model of the new museum, to the cheers of attendees who had travelled to Taiwan for the event.
    Among the attendees was Lee Yong-soo, who was forced by the Japanese military to leave her native Korea and serve as a war-time prostitute in Taiwan.
    "We need to receive an apology from Japan, not money. I think we have to solve this issue peacefully to get a legal redress," Lee said.
    Chen is one of the last three living former comfort women in Taiwan. She was the first to take a look at the newly-opened exhibition.
    "I said to her that I haven't seen her in a long time, long time no see. She said that's right, that's right. She spoke Japanese (with me). I also can understand a little Japanese, although not a lot," Chen said she spoke with Lee, whom she has not seen in ages.
    Like other Asian nations including South Korea and China, Taiwan also has an ongoing dispute with Japan over the treatment of wartime sex slaves. So far, Japan has not issued a formal apology to Taiwan.
    "So concerning grandma (Chen Lien-Hua), especially since there are only three survivors left in Taiwan, we want the Japanese government to admit its mistakes in a legal (official) manner," said Kang Shu-Hua, executive director of the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation.
    The museum hopes to raise awareness of the history of sex slavery during World War Two, while also trying to encourage activism for the empowerment of women in Taiwan.
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