Korean survivor of Japan's sex slavery dies

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- One of the oldest Korean survivors of Japan's sexual
slavery during World War II, Han Do-soon, has died of old age, a survivor support
group said on Monday. She was 87.
Han died Friday at a nursing home where she has lived since 2006, near her
hometown of Wanju, North Jeolla Province, according to the Seoul-based Korean
Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.
Her death means there are now only 94 surviving sex slaves registered with the
Korean government. Activists worry more of the aged victims will die without
receiving an apology or compensation from the Japanese government.
More than 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were sexually enslaved by Japan during
the war. Euphemistically called "comfort women," they were victims of Japan's
colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
Han was kidnapped in 1940 by the Japanese military when she was 19 while on her
way to a mountain to gather wood. She was forced to provide sex for Japanese
soldiers in Manchuria, northeastern China, until Japanese colonial rule ended in
1945 following Japan's defeat in the war.
After returning home, however, Han was met by the whispered gossip of her
neighbors. She was sent to a nearby town to be married, but the union was
short-lived as her husband died young. The couple had no children.
After decades of wandering from one menial job to the next, Han registered for
state welfare in 1993 and as a sex slavery victim in 2000.
Han has since joined other victims protesting against the Japanese government's
denial of its involvement in the sex trade. Japanese officials have expressed
"regrets" to the victims but have denied the government's role, saying the young
women were lured into frontline brothels run by private agents.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)