This year is the centennial of the Japanese annexation of Korea, an anniversary that has spurred calls for an official apology and compensation, Kyodo News reported Dec. 2. During World War II, Japan drafted millions of Korean men into forced labor and thousands into its military while about 500,000 "comfort women" provided sexual services for Japanese soldiers.
Petitions signed by more than 600,000 people in Japan, South Korea and other countries were delivered to the prime minister this month. A South Korean legislator, Lee Mi-kyong, addressed a rally outside the Diet, Japan's parliament.
''It is quite important to restore the human rights of the victims,'' she said.
Kil Won-ok, 82, also spoke, saying she tried to conceal her past as a comfort woman for many years. She said she now wants to share what she went through "to reveal the truth about history and terminate wars so victims like me will never be created again". UPI
