WWII captives used as sex slaves

"All these years I have lived in secret, shame and in pain," said 69-year-old Yoon Shim Kim in a written statement, one of few women who survived the tortures of being a military "comfort woman" during World War II.

Kim was 13 when she was abducted and subsequently subjected to daily rape and torture by the Japanese military.

About 200,000 women and girls, known as "comfort women," were forced into sexual slavery from 1932 until 1945 in East Asia, according to the Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues, Inc. Many of the women were lured with the promise of employment or kidnapped, and then raped up to 40 times a day and held like prisoners, WCCW literature states.

Last night, Kim shared her testimony with 150 students in the Whitney Room of the School of Education Building.

JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily Yoon Shim Kim, who survived life as a military comfort woman in World War II, shares her story at the School of Education yesterday.

"I was really shocked when I heard about this. This is something that I can't believe many people haven't heard about," said Korean Student Association President David Hong, an LSA senior.

"Every evening soldiers queued up in front of my cubicle and one by one raped me all night long. Their bodies were filthy and they didn't speak a word. I couldn't sleep and cried all night long. I could not survive, they said, even if I escaped, because there was no place to run to in an empty open field," Kim said.

Kim was joined last night by a translator and WCCW President Dong Woo Lee-Hahm.

"I didn't know that something this horrible happened in Korean history," said Korean Students Association External Public Relations Chair Judy Na, an Engineering junior.

Only 10 years ago the first "comfort woman" survivor came forward with her story, according to WCCW.

"It makes me think about how much of history we don't know and how much of history hasn't been brought to the surface," said Ann Pham, a MESA coordinator.

After the war, no one talked about the "comfort women" and the women remained silent out of shame, Lee-Hahm said. The women were publicly humiliated and denounced as prostitutes, Lee-Hahm added.

According to Lee-Hahm, the Japanese government initially denied that services of comfort women were used during the war. In 1993 the Japanese government admitted involvement in the crimes, according to a WCCW pamphlet.

"Regardless of what race someone is, it's hard to believe that one human being can do that to another," said Woo-Jin Kim, an LSA senior.

"I say this because you never know what's going to happen - there could be another war," Kim said.

11-19-99