China's oldest World War II sex slave - forced to be a 'comfort woman' for Japanese soldiers - dies at 91

• 'Comfort stations' were set up across Asia-Pacific in World War II
• Women from occupied territories made to provide sex for soldiers
• Japanese government have refused to take responsibility
• Researchers fear deaths of former forced prostitutes will make it harder to get compensation or apology for the terrible tradition
• Around 80,000 to 200,000 were reportedly involved
  

By Emma Reynolds

PUBLISHED: 15:07 GMT, 12 October 2012 | UPDATED: 15:31 GMT, 12 October 2012

A modest funeral was held today for China's oldest known sex slave, who worked for the Japanese army during World War II.

Yin Yulin died at the age of 91 last week and the low-profile send-off took place in her hometown of Zhengjiazhai village, Taiyuan, capital of northern China's Shanxi Province.

After Yin was identified 17 years ago as one of the Japanese army sex slaves known as 'Comfort Women', she went to Japan twice, testifying as a victim, but both court verdicts refused to accept her claims

Troubled history: Yin Yulin, China's oldest known sex slave for the Japanese army during WWII, has now died

Time to act: Various organisations have called on the Japanese government to acknowledge its responsibility for what happened, open a full investigation and provide redress from official sources rather than the so-called Private Fund

Unheard: Yin testified in Japan twice about what happened after her identity was discovered 17 years ago, but both verdicts denied the history

Zhang Shuangbin, a school teacher investigating the history of comfort women, said that as more former forced prostitutes die, lawsuits against the Japanese government become more difficult.

Various organisations have called on the Japanese government to acknowledge its responsibility for what happened, open a full investigation and provide redress from official sources rather than the so-called Private Fund.

Some of the girls forced into sexual slavery were as young as 12 years old, according to Chinese legal groups.

Conflicted thoughts: Yin holds a picture of her with friends. Some are concerned lawsuits against the Japanese government will become increasingly difficult as more former sex workers die

Shocking: Girls as young as 12 were forced to provide sex for soldiers at 'comfort stations' across Asia Pacific

After the war, many of the women were brutally slaughtered and their story was first told in 1991.

'Comfort woman' is a translation of the Japanese euphemism, jugun ianfu, (military comfort women), referring to women of various ethnic and national backgrounds and social circumstances who became sex slaves for the Japanese troops before and during WWII.

Military brothels existed across the Asia Pacific region in areas occupied by the Japanese forces.

There is no way to determine precisely how many women were forced to serve as comfort women, but estimates range from 80,000 to 200,000, of whom about 80 per cent of whom are thought to have been Korean.

Japanese women and women of other occupied territories (such as Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Burma and the Pacific islands) were also used as comfort women, according to a report by San Francisco State University.

We'll never forget: Former comfort women at a weekly rally by the Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea

Painful past: A South Korean woman cries during a protest rally at the Japanese embassy in Seoul, where demonstrators demanded compensation and punishment for soldiers who abused women

Shameful truth: Filipino comfort women light candles in front of the Japanese embassy during a rally in Pasay City

Refusing to be silenced: Filipino comfort women and their supporters react after riot police tried to disperse them during a rally near the presidential palace in Manila in 2005

The authorities believed the comfort system would enhance the morale of the military and help prevent soldiers from committing sexual violence toward women of occupied territories, which became a real concern after the infamous Nanjing Massacre in 1937.

They were also concerned with the health of the troops, which prompted close supervision of the hygienic conditions in the comfort stations to help keep STDs under control.

When the war ended, the only military tribunal concerning the sexual abuse of comfort women took place in Batavia (now Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia) in 1948.

Lifelong dream: Six Taiwanese ex-comfort women wear wedding dresses for the first time in 2006

Several Japanese military officers were convicted for having forced the 35 Dutch women involved in the case into comfort stations.

The issue began to emerge in Korea only in the late 1980s.

The Japanese government admitted deception, coercion and official involvement in the recruitment of comfort women in August 1993, but critics said they needed to go much further.

After Japan's surrender it is reported that it set up a similar system there for American GIs, with tacit approval from U.S. authorities,

Japanese officials visited a New Jersey town in April of this year to ask for a memorial to the thousands of Korean women and girls who were enslaved to be removed, but the request was refused.