A Korean woman who was forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during World War II died Sunday.
The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan said Sunday the woman had died earlier in the morning. The funeral will be held in private as per her and her family’s wishes.
She is the fifth surviving South Korean sex slavery victim to die this year. This brings to 20 the number of former sex slaves registered with the government.
Gender Equality Minister Jin Sun-mi offered condolences through a statement, expressing “deep grief and anguish” over the loss of another survivor. The ministry is covering 5 million won ($4,150) of the funeral expenses.
Last year, the Moon Jae-in administration designated Aug. 14 -- the day the first former sex slave publicly came forward to testify to the wartime sexual violence in 1991 -- as a memorial day for Japanese military’s sex slavery victims.
From the 1930s through the duration of WWII, tens of thousands of girls and women, many of them Korean, Chinese and Filipinas, were coerced to sexually serve Japanese soldiers in military brothels as “comfort women.”
A memorial statue of victim of Japanese military`s sexual slavery during WWII (Yonhap)
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