The long-standing disputes between Japan and its two neighbors -- China and South Korea -- over the "comfort women" issue have largely hindered the development of Japan's ties with neighbors, and the issue has become a touchstone of how Japan is facing up to its wartime history.
South Korean historians have estimated that more than 200,000 women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula, China, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries, were forced to serve as sex slaves for Imperial Japanese troops during World War II (WWII). Most of them were Koreans as the peninsula was under Japan's colonial rule at the time.
At an average age of nearly 90, today's surviving sex slaves are gradually passing away, making it more urgent for the Japanese government to offer them a sincere apology and appropriate compensation.
The refusal of Shinzo Abe's government to apologize reflects its persistent denial of Japan's atrocities in WWII and the government's unwillingness to acknowledge history.
As a trilateral meeting of leaders from China, Japan and South Korea is approaching, the Japanese government should reflect on its historical perception, face up to its wartime crimes and correctly handle the "comfort women" issue in order to mend ties with its major neighbors.
VICTIMS DIE, HORRORS WILL NOT
Very few former sex slaves are still alive today, only 47 in South Korea and about 20 in China, according to earlier media reports.
The survivors are gradually passing away, but their pains from the traumatic experiences will endure. Many of the traumatized survivors were afraid to share their tragic experiences with the public and lived with shame and disease for years before death.
Lee Ok-seon from South Korea, 88, is one of the brave former sex slaves who has shared her experiences. In the fall of 1942, then 15-year-old Lee was dragged into a truck by two male strangers and later sent to a "comfort station" for Japanese soldiers in Northeast China.
As she recalls, Lee was forced to provide sex services for about 50 Japanese soldiers a day in a tiny, windowless cell of less than 4 square meters. Besides sexual abuse, she was threatened, brutally beaten and cut by knives, with scars still visible on her arms and legs today.
Lee endured three years of suffering in the station until Japan surrendered. Longtime abuse has left cuts and bruises all over her body, as well as sexually transmitted diseases, which led to her continuous sufferings in later years. Sustained injection therapy has made her unable to conceive, and she even had to have her uterus removed.
After gaining freedom, the fate of Lee and other liberated sex slaves was uncertain; they did not know where to go. "How could I have the face to go home? My face reads I am a 'comfort woman.' I couldn't face my mother," Lee told Xinhua in an interview.
Lee now lives at the Home of Sharing, a rest home close to Seoul for former sex slaves. It was built in 1992 and funded by South Korean civic groups.
Kang II-chul, who also lives in the rest home, said her biggest wish is to receive Japan's apology and compensation. "If I can't succeed, my children and grandchildren will continue to demand justice," she said.
