Japan’s Sexual Slavery During Wartime Recounted in
US Congress
The Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment of the US House of Representatives held a hearing about Japan’s sexual enslavement during World War II in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building, where three victims attended the hearing as witnesses.
Two Korean (Lee Yong-soo (79) and Kim Kun-ja (81)) and one Dutch woman (Jan Ruff O'Herne (85)) attended the hearing to testify about Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement, the process of being forcibly taken to the warfront as comfort girls, Japanese soldiers’ rape and torture. They also wanted to urge the Japanese government to offer an official apology and the US Congress’ aggressive role in resolution of the issue of comfort women.
Lee testified before the U.S. Congress, saying, “I was raped at least four or five times a day by Japanese soldiers and was physically tortured continuously." She denounced, “The Japanese government has consistently alleged that it had already apologized to us, but I have never heard a word of apology from Japan. They are telling a whopping lie.”
Kim also testified about her life as a comfort woman. She said, “I was forcibly taken to China in1942 at the age of 16. I had to have sex with at least 20 soldiers, sometimes more than 40 soldiers, a day. It was hell. What I want from Japan now is not MONEY, but urge Japan to recognize its brutal actions during World War II, and there still remain some costs Japan has to take of.”
O'Herne, a Dutch woman living in Australia now, stressed, “The war ended, but not for victims like us. The Japanese soldiers took everything from me and trampled on my flower. Japan should face true history, acknowledge its atrocities during the war, and teach the real history to its current and next generations.”
Rep. Michael Honda (D-California) submitted a House resolution last month that calls on Japan to apologize.
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 / 입력시간: 2007. 02.20. 08:17
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