Ex-German chancellor visits 'comfort women'

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder stands with victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery ― Lee Yong-soo, left, and Park Ok-sun ― at the House of Sharing, a shelter for the surviving victims in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. / Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visited the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery in Korea, Monday.

According to the House of Sharing, a shelter for the surviving victims in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, Schroeder talked with survivors and gave them a photo of Anne Frank, a symbolic Jewish victim of the Holocaust.

He also laid a bouquet of flowers on a memorial monument and visited the museum set up for the "comfort women," a Japanese euphemistic term for the sex slaves.

Following the July 23 death of Kim Kun-ja, who was forcibly taken to the frontline military brothels to serve Japanese soldiers during World War II, there are now 37 Korean survivors.

"Schroeder has consistently criticized Japan for not admitting to having committed the war crimes," the official from the shelter said. "It is an honor and great pleasure having him at the house for the surviving victims."

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