Comfort women

"“My name is Won‑ok Gil, and I am one of the 22 surviving victims who were called ‘comfort women.’ When I was 13 years … I was forcibly dragged away by Japan and went through unspeakable pain and suffering, the horrors of which I cannot speak of. … Before I die, I want Japan to reveal the truth, and I also want the Emperor of Japan … to sincerely apologize for the ‘comfort women’ issue.”"

"“I became a ‘comfort woman’. I was in a three‑story building in Nanjing that was at the Kinsui‑rou ‘comfort station’. There I was called by the Japanese name ‘Utamaru’. I had to service up to thirty soldiers every day. One day I was really in pain …that bastard officer … held a long knife up against my throat … cut me. The blood poured out … Other ‘comfort women’ who caught diseases and became malnourished were carted out or often dumped into the river to drown. I also saw two Japanese army privates stab a pregnant woman in the belly and kill her. I was there for three years. …”"

"“I couldn’t come out and speak out when I was young, because of the shame. Shame was the first thing in my mind then. Now I’m older and it’s easier for me … since I’ve overcome those thoughts. But when I was younger, I was ashamed… Wouldn’t you feel the same? The fact that you were taken to the Japanese military and used as a ‘comfort woman’ instead of leading a life as others do. Is it acceptable? No, never! … I kept weeping day and night behind the closed doors. I wept in secret; I had no one to talk to. Because we survived, now the whole world (will know) …”"