Another victim of Japan’s wartime sex slavery dies

Another South Korean victim of Japan’s sex slavery during World War II died Sunday, bringing the total number of living victims down to 48. Her death came 12 days after another victim died on June 24.

Choi Geum-seon, who had been suffering from sepsis and pneumonia since 2012, died at Shinhwa Hospital in Yeongdeongpo, Seoul, Sunday. She was 89.

Born in Pyongyang in 1925, Choi was kidnapped while she was on her way to visit her friend’s house in her hometown at age 16 in 1941. She was eventually sent to Harbin, China, to work as a sex slave for Japanese soldiers who were stationed there. 
 

She eventually escaped after being enslaved for about a year and returned to Pyongyang. But she chose not to return to her family as she was afraid of being caught by the Japanese again.

Instead Choi moved to Gyeomipo, which has since been renamed to Songnim in today’s North Hwanghae Province of North Korea, to work as a waitress at a cafe.

It was in Gyeomipo where she met her future husband. She married him in 1944, six years before the Korean War began, and moved to Seoul with him in the same year. Choi is survived by her husband and their adopted daughter, according to the Gender Equality Ministry.

Choi is the seventh South Korean victim of Japan’s wartime sex slavery to die this year. Last month, Kim Youn-hee, another victim who was forced to work as a sex worker in Japan, died of old age at 83.

Scholars estimate that up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea and China, were forced to work in brothels for Japanese soldiers during World War II. Many of the victims, euphemistically called “comfort women,” are well over 80 years old.

“Time is running out for the surviving victims,” said Gender Equality Minister Kim Hee-jung in a statement. “Japan must take this situation seriously and acknowledge the sufferings endured by the victims.”

Among the 238 government-registered Korean victims, 190 have died. Among the 48 surviving victims, five of them live overseas.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heradcorp.com)