By Kim Se-jeong
A former sex slave, surnamed Choi, who was forced to serve Japanese troops during World War II, passed away, Monday. She was 90.
Her death lowers the total number of Korean survivors to 45.
“Choi passed away at 8:29 on Feb. 15 in a nursing home in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province,” the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, a Seoul-based NGO working to win an apology and compensation for the women, said Tuesday. She was suffering from diabetes, arthritis and other complications, and was admitted to the facility recently.
Choi is the first former sex slave to die in 2016; but more deaths are expected as the average age of the women is 89.
The Ministry for Gender Equality and Family expressed its condolences.
“I extend my deep condolences to her family,” Minister Kang Eun-hee said. “The government will continue to offer support for the survivors, to remember their ordeal and to restore their dignity which was brutally tarnished during the war.” The gender ministry is responsible for caring for the survivors.
Choi was born in 1926 and was coerced into sexual slavery at the age of 16 through deception. Quoting her, the NGO said she had been approached about a job at a brewery in Japan, and the recruiter didn’t even let her say good-bye to her mother. She spent four years in Taiwan, and returned home after the war, sick but too poor to get adequate medical treatment.
Choi is also the first victim to die since a verbal “agreement” was reached on the issue between Korea and Japan on Dec. 28 last year.
According to the agreement, the government will establish an independent foundation to take care of the victims, which will be funded by Japan. In return, Korea has promised to consider the issue resolved “finally and irreversibly.”
The agreement remains controversial with victims and civic groups lashing out at the government for failing to reflect their demands. Victims want Japan to make an official apology and reparations.
Among the 45 Korean survivors, 41 live here and four abroad.
Estimates say almost 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery during World War II ― the majority being Koreans in their teens, followed by Chinese, Filipinas and Dutch women.