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Korea's former 'comfort women' to launch campaign
January 20, 2005
Seoul - Elderly South Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for
Japanese soldiers during World War II launched a new campaign Wednesday calling
on Tokyo to apologize and provide compensation, Kazinform cites Yonhap.
The campaign will launch in the weekly protest rally by former "comfort women"
in front of the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul.
The rally is expected to draw wide media attention as it comes on the heels of
the publication of decades-old documents recording talks between Seoul and
Tokyo to normalize their diplomatic relations.
The unclassified diplomatic documents prove that the government led by former
president Park Chung-hee did not demand legal compensation from Japan for the
wartime sex slaves in the 1965 talks.
Historians say at least 200,000 women from Korea and thousands more from other
Asian countries including China, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines were
forced to cater to the sexual appetites of Japanese soldiers during the war.
Japan has denied the South Korean victims' demand for compensation, arguing
that any legitimate claims expired with the agreement signed at the talks.
The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan,
a civic group that supports the comfort women, said it plans to unveil future
plans and read letters addressed to Japanese and South Korean leaders during
the 641st protest rally.
It also plans to launch a signature-collecting campaign by targeting 1 million
local people and foreigners in Seoul's Insa-dong and Myeongdong areas.
"With the disclosure of the documents, it was found that the issue of sex
slaves was not included in the Korea-Japan agreement," the council said in a
letter to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
It demanded the Japanese government open new talks with Seoul to discuss the
issue and allocate reasonable damages to the victims.
In the letter sent to President Roh Moo-hyun, the group said, "We hope the
government will resolve the issue of Japan's wartime atrocities on Koreans with
the revelation of the documents providing an opportunity." Roh was urged to
raise the issue in talks with Japan and demand an official apology and
reparations.
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