More than 70 years have passed since Japan drafted Women for the Military Sexual Slavery but still there's no reparation, no apology.
In 1991, Ms. Hak-Soon Kim, a former "comfort woman" and victim of Japan's military sexual slavery during World War II, became the first survivor to give public testimony regarding her ordeal. Since that time, hundreds of other victims have spoken out, and a massive advocacy campaign was launched as the world came to realize the truth about comfort women. The 'truth' was that over 200,000 women and girls -- sometimes as young as 10 years old -- had been subjected to systematic rape and torture by the Japanese military during the war. Only 25% are estimated to have survived.
Despite growing international pressure, Japan has steadfastly refused to acknowledge its legal and moral responsibility for the comfort women atrocity. In 1994, Japan created the privately-funded "Asian Women's Fund," which the victims rejected as a patronizing gesture intended only to avoid legal liability. Earlier this year, Japan's Ministry of Education approved eight school textbooks, which omit all facts and references to wartime atrocities, including sexual slavery, perpetuated by the Imperial Army.
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