SPOTLIGHT 25/08/13 Korean rally urges Japan to properly compensate ‘comfort women’

[성기화 요셉]

An estimated 50,000 to 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery in countries occupied by the Japanese army during WWII

This file photo shows former South Korean comfort women staging a demonstration outside Seoul's Japanese embassy. (AFP)

By UCA News reporter

Published: August 15, 2025 10:45 AM GMT

Updated: August 15, 2025 11:12 AM GMT

About 600 mostly women demonstrators, including a survivor, joined a rally in South Korean capital Seoul demanding justice and compensation for victims of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.

Known as ‘comfort women,’ an estimated 50,000 to 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery in countries occupied by the Japanese army during World War II.

The demonstrators, including a 97-year-old survivor, Lee Yong-soo, joined the rally in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul on Aug. 13, Hankyoreh reported.

Since 2018, Aug. 14 has been observed as the International Memorial Day for Japanese Military Comfort Women, a day before the National Liberation Day holiday marking Korea’s independence from Japanese colonization.

The protesters slammed Japanese authorities for delaying compensation and allegedly distorting facts regarding the Japanese military’s sexual abuses during the war.

The program was organized by national and international rights organizations advocating for justice and compensation for the victims for decades.

Representatives from a total of 166 organizations from 10 countries, including Japan, Taiwan, the US, and Germany, joined the program.

Survivor Lee urged President Lee Jae Myung to revise the Act on Protection, Support and Commemorative Projects for Sexual Slavery Victims for the Japanese Imperial Army.

“The Japanese government should make haste to give survivors the legal compensation they deserve,” Lee emphasized.

The rally was the 1,713th Wednesday Demonstration themed “Our Hope Ignites in Your Light,” which seeks justice for the victims.

On Aug. 14, 1991, Kim Hak-soon, a comfort woman, made the first official testimony regarding the atrocities committed by the Japanese military.

Some of the women victims of sexual slavery were from Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaya, Manchukuo, and Taiwan. However, an estimated 80 percent of comfort women were Koreans.

Japan and South Korea have been at loggerheads over the issue of comfort women and the agreement related to their compensation.

In 2015, a Comfort Women Agreement was created, a foundation was set up, and Japan provided 1 billion yen (US$6.6 million) to distribute as compensation.

The agreement was cancelled by the South Korean government under Moon Jae-in in 2018 after victims and their families protested, wanting the Japanese government to take legal responsibility for the atrocities.

Many Koreans criticize Japan for not acknowledging its legal responsibility towards the sex slave regiment during the war.

In a joint statement, the rally organizers urged the Japanese administration to make an official apology, provide legal compensation, and cease distorting historical truths.

“The Japanese government’s denial and distortion of history is reaching dangerous levels. It is ignoring the court rulings that the survivors have struggled so hard to earn by citing violations of international law,” they said.

On Nov. 23, 2024, the Seoul High Court overturned a lower court ruling and ordered the Japanese government to pay compensation to 16 plaintiffs, including former “comfort women” of the Imperial Japanese Army.

The rights groups urged the South Korean administration to hold Japan accountable for its illegal occupation of the Korean Peninsula and its crimes against humanity and bring about “historical justice.”

They also demanded the complete abolition of the 2015 agreement between Korea and Japan, which claimed to resolve the comfort women issue “finally and irreversibly.”