Do you know what the world’s longest protest is in the Guinness World Records?

Who are they, and why have they been protesting so long?

Every Wednesday
In front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Korea

The protesters are the former “comfort women” for the Japanese military.

During the Japanese imperial period, they were drafted for military sexual slavery by Japan. 

For the Japanese government, “comfort women” are a part of the past that it wishes to forget.

However, the pain of the surviving victims is still present.

In 2011, the weekly protest of these gray-haired women marked its 1000th anniversary.

To commemorate the anniversary, a statue was erected in front of the Japanese Embassy.

These elderly women have long been asking for an apology from the Japanese government.

This statue of a girl always stands by them.

On the day of the 1046th Wednesday protest, a Korean girl set out on a trip to America.
 
Her goal!
“Promote the truth about the comfort women system as a Japanese war crime.”

“Promote the Dokdo naming issue as the lingering legacy of Japanese imperialism.”

Dokdo was incorporated into Japan in 1905. Like the comfort women issue, Dokdo is also considered a remnant of Japanese imperialism.

1. The comfort woman statue goes to the UN headquarters in New York!

Standing before the United Nations, an organization that represents human rights and peace

The girl wanted to promote the truth about the “comfort women” to the world.  

The winter wind in New York was harsh.
She shivered with cold.

Then, she thought of those strong survivors in Korea.

On Wednesdays, whether it is raining or snowing, they go to the Japanese embassy.

2. The comfort woman statue goes to Times Square!

Standing at Times Square, a famous place among New Yorkers and tourists

On this busy street, the girl tried to tell true stories about the “comfort women.”

However, she was confronted with indifference.

Suddenly, rain started falling and people hurried to their destinations. Her voice became muted in the rain.

Then, an American man approached her.

He was interested in who the statue represents. 

“The statue represents the victims of Japan’s military sexual slavery system.”

“For 15 years from 1931 to 1945, Japan took women from its occupied territories and forced them into sexual slavery.”

“Japan was committing this terrible war crime in Asia, while Nazi Germany was carrying out the Holocaust in Europe.”

“America is a country that supports human rights, isn’t it?”

“There are still a lot of human rights violations around the world. The comfort women issue is one of them.”

“In order to move forward, Japan should reflect on its past and apologize to its victims. Your interest and support will be a great help.”

He showed empathy and gave a flower to her. Then, he left.

3. The comfort woman statue goes to American universities!

Visiting renowned institutions that educate future leaders, who will tackle human rights violations and war crime issues

Harvard University
Georgetown University
Cornell University
Stanford University

During conferences at these universities, the girl told stories about the “comfort women.”

There was a question that surprised her.

“I just searched online. It says that the Japanese government already apologized. How do you respond to that?”

He raised his hand and asked her this question. 

“Yes, Japan did apologize. But, it denied its use of coercion during the recruitment of the “comfort women.”

“It also denied the government’s involvement.” 

“It insisted that those women voluntarily made their choice.”

“So, I don’t consider the apology sincere, but rather meaningless words.”

Still, Japanese politicians pay tribute to war criminals at their shrine and distort historical facts in their school textbooks.

He eventually understood how Koreans feel about their painful past and the Dokdo issue. 

Coldness, indifference and criticism
These are the three things that challenged the girl during her visit to America.

However, she found her strength by thinking about the strength of the surviving victims.

Also, one person at Times Square gave her the courage to go on.

Finally, while answering a student’s critical question, she found hope for change. 

What is the ultimate goal that the girl and the surviving victims want to achieve?

It is to prevent such tragedies from repeating ever again.

Although they lost their youth in their teens and twenties, they hope no one else will go through such pain and instead will live a happy life that they deserve.

However, they know there are still many people suffering in different parts of Asia and Africa.

For those who are suffering from wars, human rights violations and forced labor, these women are making contributions.

They refused to live as victims, but instead as human rights and peace activists. 

The Wednesday protest still continues in front of the Japanese embassy. 

The number of current survivors:
Only 60 women

The ultimate goal of the Wednesday protest

They are not fighting for “compensation” for themselves, but rather for an “assurance” of a peaceful future for everyone in the world.

VANK wants to promote this cause to Asia, Africa, Europe and all other parts of the world.

We are looking for courageous young Koreans who will take this journey with us.

A Korean girl came back from her first journey to America.
You can be a part of our next journey!

[Additional ending]

While we were making this video after our journey, we heard the news about the passing of two of the victims among the 60 survivors.

Kim Bok-sun passed away on December 12, 2012, followed by Hwang Geum-joo on January 3, 2013. May they rest in peace!

Now, there are only 58 survivors.
Time is running out.

A girl’s dream
It was the time when Koreans were suffering from colonial exploitation and oppression.

Japanese Occupation Period (Aug. 29. 1910 ~ Aug. 15. 1945)
Her dream was to meet a caring man and have an ordinary marriage.  
She dreamed of making a happy family with adorable children.
She used to draw on the ground with her fingers, dreaming of becoming an artist someday.
She was just an ordinary girl with ordinary dreams.

She was only 12.
“I was told that I could make money and go to school, if I go work at a silk factory in Japan. So, I took the chance.”

However, where she arrived wasn’t Japan. It was Harbin, China.
“Prevent the rape of local women and STDs, and boost military morale!”

All of the sudden, she was given the title, “comfort woman”.
『Military Sexual Slavery by Japan』
Her job was to serve as a military sex slave for the imperial Japanese Army.

『Military Sexual Slavery by Japan』
System of forced military prostitution by the Japanese government
The victims were brought to military camps by Japanese soldiers, with no idea where they were going or what they were going to do.

An estimated 200,000 Asian women fell into this vicious trap.
The largest human trafficking case of such unprecedented scale in the 20^th century
A tiny dark room with a blanket and wooden plank walls
All the dreams of the young girls were suddenly lost in a 35-square-foot space.

“We got there in a truck, escorted by military officers.
Over 100 soldiers were lined up in front of each door. 

“When a soldier came into my room, I screamed in fear and tried to escape.”

“Then, the comfort station manager slapped my face until my nose started bleeding, and locked me in a small room with no food.”
“I was nothing more than an animal. If the Japanese soldiers saw me as a human being, they couldn’t have done what they did to me.”

Mass rape
Forced abortion
Mutilation and murder

The heinous war crimes changed the life of innocent civilians forever.
Many Korean girls lost the ordinary life that they deserved.

The defeat of Japan in WWII
The subsequent independence of Korea
The defeated Japanese soldiers returned home, leaving the Korean girls in China.

Japanese history is covered with the blood of countless innocent victims.
Japan has tried to cover up the tragic stories of the innocent girls.

Attempts to introduce ‘a resolution on the comfort women’ to the U.S. House of Representatives
These attempts were unsuccessful due to Japanese lobbying efforts.
In 2001 and 2005, two resolutions to the House were abandoned with no result.

In 2006, a resolution on the comfort women was finally introduced to the House, but it was again abandoned with the end of a congressional session.

March 1, 2007
“There is no evidence to prove there was coercion (in recruiting the comfort women)”
- Former Japanese Prime Minister, Abe Shinzo

There is no historical document to prove that those women were forced against their will into prostitution, and many of them were better paid than field officers and even generals.
- Paid Advertisement in the Washington Post (June 14, 2007)

450 thousand U.S. dollars
‘560 million Korean won’

The amount of money the Japanese government spent to block the resolution on the comfort women – Sankei newspaper (August 30, 2009) It is clear evidence of Japan’s effort to cover up historical truths. Due to the lobbying of the Japanese government, the victims’ international appeals kept being rejected. However, the Korean victims did not give up. The Korean girls, now old ladies, stepped forward to testify about their experiences.

Domestic and international NGOs and overseas Koreans began offering voluntary support. However, Japan’s effort to block the resolution was intense and persistent. Korean American communities started aggressive actions to counter Japan’s lobbying efforts.

Every weekend, they visited congressmen to persuade them.
They also produced a documentary about the comfort women.

On June 26, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee passed the resolution on the comfort women. Despite much adversity, the resolution was approved with a vote of 39-2. Japan made intense lobbying efforts under the lead of its prime minister. However, Koreans’ sincere appeals defeated Japan’s powerful lobby.

The Government of Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Force’s coercion of young women into sexual slavery, known to the world as ‘comfort women’.
-   U.S. House Resolution 121

Every Wednesday, gray-haired former Korean comfort women come out to protest in front of the embassy of Japan in Seoul.

“I wasn’t born to be a comfort woman. I was a precious daughter of my parents.”

What they want is not money. What they want is for the Japanese government to accept its faults and make a sincere apology. A sincere apology will help them to put an end to their painful past. They want to live the rest of their life in peace. They want to ensure that a similar tragedy won’t happen again by sharing their experiences with the world.

The more you try to cover up the truth, the deeper you will fall into darkness. The more colors you add on a finished drawing, the uglier it gets. That is the lesson that the Japanese government should recognize.  The Japanese government should stop historical distortion and accept the truth.  It should make a sincere apology to the wounded women. Let’s help them put an end to their painful past. They want to go back to being ordinary women, as they were. They will just be living witnesses of hidden historical truths. All of us have a responsibility to help them recover their ordinary life.

Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) is looking for young Koreans who will help Korea overcome its historical pain.  With VANK, you will become the hope for the people of the world. Even money and power couldn’t defeat the sincere appeals of the brave Korean women.

Korea’s historical truth was presented to the world. History tells us. Have a dream to go with truth! Remember not to repeat such tragic history.

Dear young people, You should respect the dreams of other people. You should walk on a path for true history and peace! 

There are young Koreans who have a dream to go beyond Korea and influence Asia and the world. If you are one of them, you are our proud peacemakers.

Over 60 years have passed since Korea became independent from Japan in 1945. Unfortunately, some political tensions between Korea and Japan have yet to be resolved. These tensions occasionally come to the surface. Prominent examples are the conflicts over the naming of East Sea/Sea of Japan and the Japanese worship at the Yasukuni shrine. Behind these conflicts lie different versions of history. Most Japanese remember the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that devastated Japan and ended Japan’s “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere?project. On the other hand, most Koreans remember the horrific suffering of their ancestors during the Japanese occupation period (1910-1945). Tragic national events play a crucial role in the creation of each country’s history, while the other side’s sufferings are often dismissed, which breeds conflict. The suffering of the ‘comfort women’ is an important and unforgettable part of Korean history, but it is a small part of and is often missing from Japanese history. This in turn causes various conflicts between the two countries. 

‘Comfort women’ is a euphemism for the sexual slavery of Asian women by the Japanese military during World War II. According to Amnesty International, up to 200,000 women were enslaved and forced into organized rapes on Japanese military bases. The women were recruited by force, deceit (e.g., employment in a factory) or abduction. They were from many Asian countries such as China, East Timor, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Over 80% of the comfort women are believed to have been Korean. They were forced to serve 10 to 30 soldiers per day on average. When they refused, the women were beaten and even killed. After the end of the war, former comfort women felt too ashamed to speak out, and tried to hide their experience in the Japanese ‘comfort stations’ even from their own family. They kept their silence until a Korean survivor’s testimony in 1991. As of July 2006, only 225 have reported to the Korean government (more specifically, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family) that they were comfort women. Many have already died, or live in poor conditions while suffering from physical and psychological pain. The Japanese government has not yet made an official apology to the victims. 

Koreans feel burdened with the memory of the comfort women, whom they failed to protect due to their loss of sovereignty. This burden makes Koreans feel hesitant in their attempts at reconciliation with Japan. The feeling of guilt further incites Koreans’ fear of the revival of Japanese militarism. That is, the memories of the comfort women are entangled with present conflicts between Korea and Japan. Extra pressure put on Korean athletes during Korea-Japan sports matches, since a defeat by Japan reminds Koreans of the suffering endured under Japanese control. 

Resolving the issue of the comfort women is a necessary step toward peace in Northeast Asia. By paying reparation and compensation to the victims of the comfort women system, the Japanese government can show its willingness to defend peace and human rights. Japan is a country that led the effort to pass UN human rights resolutions concerning North Korea. If the Japanese government continues to ignore the ‘comfort women’ issue, which was a severe human rights violation, it will be tougher to gain support for its role in human rights improvement for the Asian continent. In addition, by making an official apology, the Japanese government can show its willingness to take responsibility for its past. Accepting responsibility for its history of imperialism will ease Asian countries’ concern about Japanese rearmament and its movements toward revising the Peace Constitution. Building trust with other Asians countries is important for the Japanese government, which hopes to become a leading party in the Northeast Asian region and a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Peace is a long process of building mutual understanding and mutual trust. If Japan wants to be seen by other Asian nations as a trusted partner in a peaceful Asia, it must prove its commitment to peace by taking responsibility for its history.

Message from the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan

The issue of the comfort women occasionally comes to the surface and influences the relations between Japan and the affected Asian countries including Korea. Without resolving the conflict over this issue, the paths to peace will be difficult. To resolve this issue, I thought we should first listen to the voice of the victims of the ?omfort women?system. I interviewed the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (KCWDMSSJ). This is an organization, founded in 1990, that has put their best effort into educating the world about the experience of the ?omfort women.?Its primary goal is to have the Japanese government take responsibility for its past and promise to teach its students what Japan did so that the next generation of Japanese will not repeat such acts on other countries. 

Give justice to the ‘comfort women’ victims
July 31, 2007 (Korean time) was a historic day when the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed Resolution 121, calling on the Japanese government to officially apologize for its compulsory drafting of Asian women into Japanese military brothels. Resolutions on comfort women had been submitted to the U.S. Congress several times, but failed to be put to the plenary session due to the massive lobbying efforts of Japan and sensitive political situations. Thus, this passage of the resolution deeply touched us. Since then, the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan has been frequently asked “Is the ‘comfort women’ issue resolved now because the resolution was passed?” Is it really the end? In short, the answer is no. Instead it is just the beginning. 

The government of Japan has denied its involvement in the systematic rape of hundreds of thousands of women during World War II, and has attempted to avoid its responsibility by making remarks such as that there was no ‘forced recruitment.’ However its vigorous lobbying could not block the passing of the resolution by its biggest ally, the U.S., and its avoidance of its past wrongdoing has been criticized by the international community. The adoption of the resolution in the U.S. inspired other countries to promote a resolution to stop Japan’s tenacious and persistent effort to evade its responsibility. To change the century wracked by memories of war into that of peace, the rest of the world is in broad agreement that Japan has to be responsible for its war crimes, which took the lives of countless people and violated human rights. Therefore, the resolution being passed in the U.S. will help spark international movements to resolve this issue until justice is established. In the present, there are brisk activities in Australia and Canada to promote a resolution calling for the Japanese government’s apology, and similar resolutions are in preparation in several European countries and the European Union (EU). 

It is not too much to say that the ‘comfort women’system is a terrible example of wartime violence against women either by size or system that has been devised and set at the national level. The ‘comfort women’ issue should be resolved in terms of human rights and peace before it is too late. Resolving the‘comfort women’ issue will present evidence for hope to those women who are suffering from wars across the world. The Japanese government must realize that the world is looking upon it with a hope for justice and peace. It should apologize in a clear and unequivocal manner for its role in coercing young women into sexual slavery, and compensate the victims. Such actions should be taken quickly while old victims are still alive. It should also promise not to repeat such human rights violations against women in wartime, to stop distorting history, and to educate the future generations of Japan about its war crimes. These efforts will help open the new century of peace in Asia. We hope more people will join in the movement to return justice and honor to the former ‘comfort women’ victims, who were brave enough to come out of silence and come forward.

For more info : KCWDMSSJ (http://www.womenandwar.net/english/index.php)