Original photos and records of Korean "Comfort Women" displayed for the first time
- 5 years ago
'일본군 위안부' 한국여성 실물 사진 3점 최초 공개, 서울서 사진전 개막
A special exhibition to bring to light the issue of Japan's wartime sex slavery has opened in Seoul.
Displayed are the original photos and records of Korean women and girls who were forced to serve at Japanese military brothels.
Oh Soo-young provides a closer look. A snapshot from the life of Park Young-shim .
The picture, taken in 1944 when Park was 23 years old, shows a barefoot woman slumped against a rock,... unsmiling with her eyes cast down on her heavily pregnant belly.
For five years, she had been a sex slave of the Japanese imperial army, removed from her home in Korea and taken to a military brothel in China.
The original copy of this photo, along with two other originals of Korean "comfort women" are on display for the first time at an exhibition in Central Seoul.
Taken in Myanmar and China by U.S. military photographers, only scanned copies were available, until a research team from Seoul National University procured the originals from individual collectors.
"These images are already well known as they are depicted in history textbooks,... but visitors can feel the unique aura of the originals which have aged with the victims for over 70 years."
The exhibition also shows newspaper clips, travel documents and footage of the women, as they were moved around the continent following the spread of Japanese aggression.
Historians say around 200-thousand women from Korea, China and other occupied countries were systematically forced to serve at Japanese military brothels.
Many of the victims say they were raped every day by thirty soldiers on average.
The plight of these young girls and women was kept silent for decades,... until Korean victims began speaking out in the early 1990s.
Over the years,... Tokyo has been reluctant to acknowledge the issue or appease the former sex slaves.
A deal reached by Seoul and Tokyo to settle the issue in 2015,... has been widely criticized by the Korean public,... as the terms were deemed insufficient and didn't take into account the victims' wishes.
The surviving women, now mostly in their nineties, continue to call for a sincere apology from Tokyo, along with proper reparations.
But time is running out.
"Only 23 victims are still alive to this day.
More than 200 registered victims have passed away over the last 25 years.
But the photos here preserve the memories of them, and of the injustices and shame that are still waiting to be redressed.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News."
A special exhibition to bring to light the issue of Japan's wartime sex slavery has opened in Seoul.
Displayed are the original photos and records of Korean women and girls who were forced to serve at Japanese military brothels.
Oh Soo-young provides a closer look. A snapshot from the life of Park Young-shim .
The picture, taken in 1944 when Park was 23 years old, shows a barefoot woman slumped against a rock,... unsmiling with her eyes cast down on her heavily pregnant belly.
For five years, she had been a sex slave of the Japanese imperial army, removed from her home in Korea and taken to a military brothel in China.
The original copy of this photo, along with two other originals of Korean "comfort women" are on display for the first time at an exhibition in Central Seoul.
Taken in Myanmar and China by U.S. military photographers, only scanned copies were available, until a research team from Seoul National University procured the originals from individual collectors.
"These images are already well known as they are depicted in history textbooks,... but visitors can feel the unique aura of the originals which have aged with the victims for over 70 years."
The exhibition also shows newspaper clips, travel documents and footage of the women, as they were moved around the continent following the spread of Japanese aggression.
Historians say around 200-thousand women from Korea, China and other occupied countries were systematically forced to serve at Japanese military brothels.
Many of the victims say they were raped every day by thirty soldiers on average.
The plight of these young girls and women was kept silent for decades,... until Korean victims began speaking out in the early 1990s.
Over the years,... Tokyo has been reluctant to acknowledge the issue or appease the former sex slaves.
A deal reached by Seoul and Tokyo to settle the issue in 2015,... has been widely criticized by the Korean public,... as the terms were deemed insufficient and didn't take into account the victims' wishes.
The surviving women, now mostly in their nineties, continue to call for a sincere apology from Tokyo, along with proper reparations.
But time is running out.
"Only 23 victims are still alive to this day.
More than 200 registered victims have passed away over the last 25 years.
But the photos here preserve the memories of them, and of the injustices and shame that are still waiting to be redressed.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News."