Comfort woman seeks Assembly seat with DUP

One of the surviving victims of sexual slavery by Japanese military during World War II is seeking a proportional representation seat with the main opposition Democratic United Party.

Lee Yong-su, 84, said she wanted to become a proportional representative through the April 11 parliamentary elections so that she can demand an official apology and compensation from the Japanese government as a lawmaker.

“Japan hasn’t changed its stance a bit on the issue for the last 20-30 years. I want to make sure we get an official apology from them if I win a seat at the April parliament election,” Lee told a local news agency on Friday.

She added that she would seek the seat as the last chance in her life considering her old age.

“But if I become a lawmaker and resolve the long-standing issue, it will restore the honor of all those women forced into sexual servitude throughout Asia,” Lee said.

“I am not a politician. I don’t care which party will accept me, but my close acquaintances have suggested the DUP to me.”

The DUP will start receiving applications for its proportional representatives early next week, officials said.

Lee was taken to Taiwan by Japanese military when she was 15 and two years later returned to her home town of Daegu in 1945.

Lee has spearheaded the efforts to resolve the comfort women issue.

She testified at the U.S. House of Representative in 2007, which adopted a resolution on “comfort women,” condemning Japan’s sexual slavery of young women during World War II.

She also won a case on the release of documents regarding the bilateral pact in 1965 between Japan and Korea in 2004.

The Japanese government argues the comfort women issue was settled by a bilateral pact in 1965 to settle financial reparations for Japan’s colonization of Korea from 1910-45, while Seoul maintains that the issue is a separate humanitarian issue that was not covered under it.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)