Former Sex Slaves Call on Japan for Full Apology

Jakarta Globe, November 25, 2010

Portraits of former Indonesian sex slaves during Japan colonization called Jugun Ianfu (comfort women) exhibited at Erasmus Huis in Jakarta. Six former Korean wartime sex slaves and more than 200 supporters gathered Thursday in Tokyo to call on Japan for a full official apology and compensation in a petition to Prime Minister Naoto Kan. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

Tokyo. Six former Korean wartime sex slaves and more than 200 supporters gathered on Thursday in Tokyo to call on Japan for a full official apology and compensation in a petition to Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, they submitted a petition of around 600,000 signatures collected in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and other regions.

“I really hope for no more wars, which would inevitably create victims like me,” said one of the former comfort women, 83-year-old Gil Won Ok from South Korea.

South Korean lawmaker Lee Mi-Kyung also visited with a petition signed by 177 South Korean parliamentarians.

The elderly Korean women and their supporters faced abuse from dozens of Japanese nationalists who staged their own protest outside the parliamentary office building where they had gathered.

Up to 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries are estimated to have been kidnapped and forced to work as “comfort women” in military brothels used by Japanese troops during World War II.

Japan has apologized for the military’s involvement in crimes against the women, but denies responsibility for running a system of military brothels before its surrender to Allied forces in 1945.

The issue has long proved an irritant in relations between Japan and its neighbors.

The movement seeking an official apology and compensation from Japan has gained momentum following political change in the country, with the center-left Democratic Party ousting the conservatives last year, organizers said.

Agence France-Presse

Aging Filipino women who claim to be former wartime Japanese sex blow whistles in front of the Japanese Embassy in Manila, Philippines on Wednesday. The group demands from the Japanese government an apology and the redress of the crimes committed against Filipino women during World War II. (AP/Aaron Favila)

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