There is no future for people who forget their history.

 

It has been 61 years since South Korea got liberation from Japanese colonial rule. First, this is a part of letter which is written by one of comfort women who already passed away.

 

“I was not a human being. In 1940, my family lived in poverty, and I was only 12 years old. One day, fortunately, I was hired by one Japanese factory. We waited for a long time to take a bus to go to factory and finally arrived at one place. But, there was only one old building which is made of wood, not a huge place where we can work. That place was called ‘comfort zone’ which controls comfort women.

 

I was not a human being. The amount of Japanese soldiers waited in line in front of fragile building. I treated at least 30 guys and at most 70 guys a day. I couldn’t eat, take a rest, and sleep. Whoever refused to treat them, they whipped us or killed us. At first, I was terrified. After a while, I was painful. Later, it was a nightmare that I’m still alive. When I started thinking that to die is better than to stay in here, I was able to go back to my home.

 

I completely lost my self. It was already long times ago that I was a woman. I lived in the hell for the rest of my life. Now I want to sleep in peace without terrible nightmare. But, I hope that I can sleep with my country forever even if it is powerless.”

 

During the Japanese colonial period, they gathered the amount of comfort women and moved with army unit only for improving their efficiency.

 

This is the truth that the age of those comfort women was from 12 years old to 40 years old. This is the truth that soldiers killed comfort women with STD or during pregnancy. This is the truth that Japanese military gathered comfort women and killed them to hide what they did when Japan was defeated.

 

Now, Japanese government is saying that they followed what Western Powers did at that time, and it was not illegal because they paid it. They insisted comfort women were volunteers. As a result, majority of Japanese people knows that these are truths.

 

Now, even while you are reading this petition, unpredictable and unbelievable things are happening in this world. But, there are things that never can be beautified.

 

I want to give an example of German. Last year, the president of German visited one village in France where Nazis perpetrated genocide. (They killed 642 people a day including 205 children). The president, Joachim Gauck, paid a silent tribute to the monument. Now, German is a member of EU (European Union) as a developed country.

 

Even though some Japanese people claims that Japanses government should confront with their history, the government rather keep ignoring them. If Japan wants to become a truly developed country in Asia, they need to face with their history objectively.

 

Recently, one of comfort women passed away, and there are only 55 comfort women left in Korea. They never want to be compensated for ‘nightmares’ by money. All they want to see before they die is the sincere apology from Japanese government and no more concealment and distortion.

 

Let's help comfort women together to bring them back human rights.

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yHHfYOGumI