Shelter for comfort women may become museum

Operators of the House of Sharing, the residential building for surviving victims of Japan's sexual slavery before and during World War II, are mulling turning it into a museum dedicated to the women euphemistically called "comfort women."

According to local media outlets Friday, all previous occupants of the house have left due to their deteriorating health from old age. Three women, 97-year-old Lee Ok-seon -- not to be confused with confused with another victim of the same name who passed in December of 2022 -- 101-year-old Park Ok-seon, and 96-year-old Gang Il-chul had been living in the building.

The three moved to nursing homes in March of this year, according to the officials at the non-government House of Sharing, affiliated with the Buddhist Jogye Order. They said it is unlikely for them to move back to the house.

There are currently eight surviving former comfort women in the country. A total of 240 comfort women were registered with the South Korean government, although as many as hundreds of thousands of women are suspected to have been sexually victimized by the Japanese military’s system.

Ven. Seonghwa, who was appointed the president of the House of Sharing by the Jogye Order in 2022, told local media that he and other officials are contemplating transitioning the entire building into a comfort women museum. There is already a section of the site dedicated to exhibitions about comfort women.

"We are considering leaving part of the living quarters used by them (comfort women) for exhibition. Since we don't need areas like the dining hall, we could change the function of the entire building to make it a memorial hall," he was quoted as saying.

The overhaul would affect the operation of the House of Sharing. It is currently registered as a nursing home, which allows it to be run by a non-government welfare group under the Social Welfare Service Act.

Ven. Seonghwa said he and other members of the Jogye Order will soon discuss what will become of the building's operation, whether to relinquish the operation to the state or have other groups run what would become a museum.