Thank you for inviting us and giving me an opportunity to meet with you, who are fighting for the same cause with the same goals as those of us in Korea.

I am Gil, Won-ok, 80 years old, living in the shelter for comfort women provided by the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Korean Council). Last week, as usual, with other “Comfort Women”, I participated in the Wednesday Demonstration held in front of Japanese Embassy in Korea for the restoration of dignity and human rights of "comfort women", demanding official apology and proper compensation for Japan’s involvement in the military sexual slavery.

I was born in Heechun, a village in Pyunganbukdo, now a part of North Korea. In 1940, at the age of 12, I was forcibly drafted to Harbin in Dongbei and put into sexual slavery at a Japanese military base. I contracted an STD probably because I was too young to work for the Japanese soldiers as a sexual slave. Therefore, I was sent back home.

In 1942, I was again forced to work as a “Comfort Woman” in Shijiazhuang in China until Korea gained independence in 1945. After that, I arrived in Incheon, a part of South Korea, not being able to go back to my hometown because of the tragic division of Korea. I really wish the reunification of Korea so that I will be able to return to my home.

I wouldn’t be still alive if I’d remembered everything that happened in the past. Although I do not remember every detail of the terrifying ordeal, I am still terrified when I see flashes of the terrible memories of the experience. No matter how hard I try to forget, those memories are still haunting me. No one would like to hear about this horrible experience, because it was so dreadful that even if they hadn’t gone through this, they would still be horrified. I have been living with the anxiety that somebody might find out about my past. I have been deprived of what people might call an ordinary life. I can’t even dream about what other people would take for granted, like having a baby.

I had three brothers and a sister. When I was young, my father picked up junks for a living, and my mother went around the village to sell fish and things like that. One day, when I came back from school, I found my family panicking because my father had been arrested. I guess there were some problems with my father’s work. I had studied only for 2 years then, but I had to quit it, because of that incident.

I heard that we needed around 20 won of fine to free my father. So, when I heard that Japanese were recruiting girls who wanted to work in Dongbei, I decided to go there to make money for my father. I was so young and naïve that I cannot remember how I got there. There were some other people, most of whom I’d never met.

From my memory, in Dongbei, there were no Koreans nor Japanese, but only Japanese soldiers, and I still remember that it was freezing cold. I was too young and innocent to anticipate the dreadful, horrifying ordeal. I can’t articulate what I was forced to do at the Japanese military base. The soldiers and the old lady who was in charge of girls like me were really scary. The only thing I still remember is everything was so frightening.

I acquired syphilis, probably because I was too young for the job. I had high fever, so I couldn’t continue working. In the end, the Japanese at the camp got me to have an operation to block both of my Fallopian tubes. How cruel they were! They would never have done that to their own daughters. I was only 14 years old, and infertile. As a result of the operation, I ended up having ovary tumor later when I was 19.

They still couldn’t use me after the operation. I was unable to walk and the disease was still persistent. Assuming that they couldn’t use me anymore, they sent me back home with a guy who watched me all the time to stop me from running away to somewhere else like China or Dongbei.

At home, I had to support my family financially. There was a Japanese factory nearby which made guns. Every morning, I had to stand in a line in front of the factory to get a chance to work. The Japanese gave a job to the people by order of arrival as many as they needed on each day. On entering the factory, we were given a belt which was essential when making or polishing bullets.

Not long after I was sent back from Dongbei, I was again drafted to China. I resisted, but it was in vain. Once I was there, there was no way to escape. No freedom. I had no choice but to work for the Japanese soldiers even in the daytime. A lot more soldiers came between afternoon and night. Sometimes, I was too busy to allow myself even a second to clean my genital area before the next soldier. Consequently, I bled and was in an extreme pain. I refused to work. Then, I got beaten. Drunken soldiers were even scarier. It was a lot worse than you could ever imagine. Nevertheless, I was never paid, not even once.

I have a scar on the crown of my head. It was made when a Japanese soldier hit me on my head with his sword in the sheath. Because my clothes were heavily soaked with blood, he couldn’t undress me so he had to tear my clothes off. Imagine that. Who would possibly not hate them to the guts?

After all, Korea gained independence in 1945, but it was meaningless to me. It brought no relief. I just had a feeling of meaninglessness. Life was just meaningless. I was completely wrecked both emotionally and physically. In fact, I was very scared to live along. I couldn’t dare to go back to my hometown for shame. I caught a ship to Incheon, not to my hometown. There, I would do anything to make a living. I worked as a waitress, a peddler or a vendor in a market.

Fortunately, when I was about 30, I knew a woman who just gave a birth to a boy, but was not able to raise him. She was about to give him to somebody else, but I asked her to give me the boy, who has been the only reason of my life. Without him, it wouldn’t have been possible for me to survive. He’s become a minister after graduating from a theological college. What I really appreciate him is not only he’s been such a good son but he adopted an orphan saying that he wanted to live like me.

Until I heard of the Korean Council, I had been living with anxiety that somebody might find out about my past. One day, my daughter-in-law heard me mumbling while we were watching a TV programme on ‘comfort women’, and I had to tell her everything that I had kept deep in myself. All three of my family cried and cried and cried.

I was still reluctant to meet anybody who wanted to talk about my experience as a “Comfort Woman” even after I registered as a victim of Japanese military sexual slavery. In 2002, I joined a picnic organized by the Korean Council, and for the first time in my life, I felt comfortable when I met other victims at the picnic. I realized that there were so many other women who had to bear the same trauma like me and I felt so sorry for them.

I am, in fact, a good singer, but I never sing in front of other people. That’s because I am so worried that people might find out that I was a comfort woman, so I never do. But, at the picnic, I had no reason to worry. I felt free! That’s why I started to participate in events of the Korean Council and in the Wednesday Demonstration.

It is hard for me to believe that I now live full of happiness. I fight, I love and I live.
Not a single part of my body is working properly, but I am happy. I am determined to do my best to let young people know about our past.

It has been 60 years since Korea achieved independence from Japan. But Japan still refuses to admit what they did to us. I really want to see them apologize officially and make a proper compensation before I die.

In Seoul there is a demonstration every Wednesday in front of Japanese Embassy in Seoul. Students come nuns come and even foreigners come. I hope our issues gets resolved very soon.

At the shelter, there is a 91-year-old survivor and most of us are over 80. We are very sick but if the demands were not met, we would not be able to die peacefully because of mortification.

Korea and Japan are geologically very close. I hope we also become close friends by successfully resolving the painful history soon.

Let’s think about this. There was a man who had murdered. He got away with it and yet didn’t realize how wrong it was. What would happen in the society then? There would be full of murders because people would consider murder to be acceptable. We all clearly know murder is a crime and anyone who does it should be punished by law. That’s how we make people realize that murder is not something that is acceptable.

I also hope that the project of building the Museum led by the Korean Council will be soon realized with the support of Korean people. People are remembered by their descendents, but we have no children to be remembered by after all this pain and agony. As next year is the 60th anniversary of Independence, I look forward to seeing the Museum become a reality even more. The museum will have records of us and will be the place that we will be remembered by our people.

Please fight with us. We really want to see the Japanese government accept our demands while we are still alive. If you have a chance to come to Seoul, please join us in the Wednesday Demonstration. Thank you very much.