The Comfort Women

There are only 58 known comfort women or halmonies, as they are called, still living in South Korea.  These old women are all that is left of the some 200,000 women and girls kidnapped or tricked into sexual slavery during World War II.
Their story is tragic, but it is also a story of bravery and perseverance as the survivors continue to fight for justice, not only for themselves, but also for oppressed and exploited women around the world.  These women overcame the pain and the shame of their past to step up and challenge the Japanese government, telling their stories to the world.  They still have not even received an apology or acknowledgement from the Japanese but that doesn't stop them.  They demonstrate in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul every Wednesday at noon.  every Wednesday one of the frail halmonies gets up in front of a crowd of supporters to encourage young people to work hard for justice.  They raise money for women in the Congo who have also experienced rape as a weapon of war.  The halmonie who spoke today is old and frail.  Two people helped her onto the platform to speak but once she got there her voice was clear and her words ere powerful.  She encouraged the students there to study hard and make the world a better place.
The students in attendance paid tribute to the halmonies with banners and signs demanding justice.  Many gave speeches.  Some sang.  A large group of Korean-American teens from California played traditional Korean music and sang. It was very touching.  Afterwards many had their pictures taken with the comfort women memorial statue that will soon be on tour in the United States.
Rape as a weapon of war goes back much farther that World War II.  During the Japanese invasion of Korea that started in 1592 many Korean women and girls committed suicide rather than be raped by the Japanese soldier.  Korean women were captured and taken to camps.  There were reportedly up to several hundred women per army unit.  The Chinese soldiers of the Ming dynasty who came to Korea to help expel the Japanese were no better.  Many more Korean women jumped from cliffs or drowned themselves to escape. At other times during Korea's long history, invading powers demanded payment in young girls.  Sometimes thousands of girls were sent to China or Japan almost as a form of tax payment.

• Today the countries involved in sexual slavery may be different, but the practice of waging war on women's bodies continue in many forms in many different parts of the world.  Unfortunately the perpetrators, like the Japanese soldiers during World War II go unpunished.  Without consequences the war crimes continue.