hankyoreh

call for an apology to the victims from the Japanese government in front of Japanese Embassy located in Seoul

On Jan. 13, the coldest day in six years with temperatures plunging to minus 12 degrees celsius during the day, the halmoni, grandmothers, who are more than 80 years old, held their 900th demonstration.

At the noon on the same day in front of Japanese Embassy, four former comfort women who had been coerced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese military during World War II, including Kil Won-ok, took their seats in the front line of the protest. They held a banner that read, “The Wednesday Demonstration for Resolving the Issue of Comfort Women Enslaved for the Japanese Military.” This marked the beginning of the 900th Wednesday Demonstration, which began on January 8, 1992.

Kil shouted the slogan, “The Japanese government should apologize!” In 1940, when she was 12-years-old, she was sent to China as a comfort woman for Japanese soldiers and spent 6 years forcibly serving as a comfort woman until 1945, when Korea was liberated after Japan’s defeat in World War II.

She spoke bitterly of the Japanese government, which has not issued an official apology, as well as the South Korean government, which has seemingly folded its arms, content to view the situation as a bystander. Kil said, “I believe that justice will prevail.” Kil continued, “Ignoring the victims and the refusing to voice an apology will not help the government atone for their sins.” Finally, Kil stated, “I think those who should feel shamed are not us, but the Japanese and South Korean governments.”

Over 200 individuals participated in the demonstration, a larger group than the forty or fifty individuals who usually participate in the demonstrations. Among them, members of the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery and House of Sharing, which have been present since the first Wednesday Demonstration, also took their seats at the assembly.

Won Jae-yeon, 39, participated in the assembly with her two children and said, “I feel heart-stricken because the victims who have become so old are still having to ask the Japanese government for an apology.” Won added, “I brought my children to the assembly so that they will learn the true facts of history.”

The surviving victims now number only 87 individuals. When the South Korean government began to register the victims in 1993, there were 234 comfort women, however, 147 have already lost their lives. Kang Il-chul, an 82-year-old former comfort woman said, “I cannot die before I hear an apology from the Japanese government.” Kang continued, “The Japanese government should apologize to us before all of us die.”

Participants issued a statement following the demonstration stating, “The demonstrations will not come to an end until the day when the Japanese government makes an apology.” In one campaign, the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery initiated a signature-drive campaign to resolve the issue.

On the same day, Japanese and German civic organizations held assemblies for resolving the issue of the Japanese sexual enslavement of Korean women in each of their countries respectively.

The Japanese government had previously denied the involvement of Japanese military until 1993, when the Yohei Kono, then Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, issued a statement that recognizing the millitary’s involvement, however, the Japanese government has yet to issue an apology.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]