Comfort women rallying in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. August 2011.
On the 5th, Ok-sun Kim and Il-chul Kang who are victims to the Japanese military’s comfort woman or military prostitution program, were reported to have been invited for a conference at the White House, reports Munhwa Ilbo. Both the White House and the State Department expressed outrage at the incidents that took place in Asia during the war and condemned such actions as a serious violation of human rights.
A spokesperson for the White House stated that the administration is interested in investigating what really happened regarding the Korean, Chinese and other Southeast Asian women who were forced to leave their homes to serve the Japanese soldiers as prostitutes wherever they were fighting at the time. The State Department also expressed interest in the problem and stated that this was something that the Japanese administration should have already taken care of.
It is reported that the State Department has promised the two interviewed women to thoroughly investigate and “follow up” on the comfort women program. Many Koreans in both South Korea and outside the peninsula are showing great expectations regarding the attention the comfort women incidents are currently receiving within the Obama administration and whether this time Japan is ready to comply and compensate for these war crimes.
In fact, in April when President Barrack Obama personally visited South Korea, he talked about the comfort women and called their hardships as a “serious violation of human rights”. A White House spokesman explained that the reason the president was able to make such a statement was because the administration understands the gravity of this piece of history.
Ok-sun Kim and Il-chul Kang with State Department Representatives
The same White House representative was present at Ok-sun Kim and Il-chul Kang and personally addressed the victims of Japanese war crimes, “You must understand that even though you may not have any influence now, when you band together you will have great power”.
The comfort women conference took place on the 7th at the White House for around 2 hours at the West Wing. Il-chul Kang, one of the interviewed victims stated that out of the 200,000 Korean women who were forced to serve the Japanese, only a few survivors are alive today, and urged the U.S. government to help resolve the issue before the remaining survivors die. The Korean women also stated that they do not care so much about material compensation, but history must be set right.
Meanwhile the Department of State representatives who were also present at the conference showed great interest in the problem and agreed to let the leaders be more aware of the forgotten history about the comfort women.
