Image: Yonhap
A 90-year-old woman who resides in Busan has finally mustered the courage to confess, after 70 years of keeping silent, that she worked as a 'comfort woman' (sex slave) during the Japanese occupation of Korea.
The brave elderly woman who came forward with the confession after seven decades was revealed to be Park Seon Rip, a resident of Busan Youngdo District's Sinseon-dong. Park told those at Sinseon-dong's community center, "This was something that I want to say before I die."
Park, who hails from South Gyeonsang Province's Goseong City, said that she was forcibly taken to Osaka, Japan by the Japanese police at the age of twenty. After being thrown into a military camp in Osaka, Park was forced to do menial labor during the day and be a sex slave at night. She was forced to speak in Japanese and should Park disobey orders, she was stamped on and clouted with weapons. Park also claimed that she witnessed other women being beaten to death when they had tried to run away.
After suffering an unimaginable pain in Osaka for a total of four months, she was able to return to Busan subsequent Korea's liberation from Japan. Park has not told anyone aside from her daughter that she worked as a 'comfort woman' for fear that she would trouble her children.
Park only stepped forward after learning that Japan and Korea recently came to an agreement. She said, "I spilled everything after they told me that the negotiations regarding the 'comfort women' were over. I'm embarrassed to see my children and neighbors but it's true that I was taken to work as a sex slave."
After hearing Park's story, the Youngdo District is planning to proceed with registering Park as one of the comfort women after receiving the necessary documents.
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