“Comfort Women” Then and Now:
Who They Were and Why We Should Remember Them
Who They Were and Why We Should Remember Them
March 2–August 4, 2024
The term “comfort women” refers to the tens to hundreds of thousands of women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces between 1932 and 1945 in areas under its colonial and wartime command. “Comfort women” is a euphemism and does not describe the ordeals the victims went through. We continue to use the term because of its historical significance—the term was created and used to refer to the women by the Japanese military at the time, and it appears in thousands of military documents created during the war—but we place it in quotation marks to highlight that the term is deceptive and does not reflect the historical reality.
The purpose of setting up the “comfort stations”—in reality, brothels—was to mitigate the local people’s hostility toward the Japanese soldiers for raping local women in the occupied territories and to prevent the risk of venereal diseases and espionage that might occur when the soldiers visited local brothels. Providing sex for soldiers was a deliberate military strategy.
Through the use of force, abductions, and false promises of paid work for the wartime effort, the Japanese military coerced tens to hundreds of thousands of women and girls as young as 12 years old into sex slavery. About 10 percent of these women survived the war. After the war ended in 1945, they went silent due to an immense sense of shame.
After 50 years of silence, the Grandmas (an affectionate term to refer to the survivors) courageously broke their silence in the early 1990s. They began demanding an official apology and legal compensation from the Japanese government. Some became leaders of the redress movement and made an international impact.
The purpose of setting up the “comfort stations”—in reality, brothels—was to mitigate the local people’s hostility toward the Japanese soldiers for raping local women in the occupied territories and to prevent the risk of venereal diseases and espionage that might occur when the soldiers visited local brothels. Providing sex for soldiers was a deliberate military strategy.
Through the use of force, abductions, and false promises of paid work for the wartime effort, the Japanese military coerced tens to hundreds of thousands of women and girls as young as 12 years old into sex slavery. About 10 percent of these women survived the war. After the war ended in 1945, they went silent due to an immense sense of shame.
After 50 years of silence, the Grandmas (an affectionate term to refer to the survivors) courageously broke their silence in the early 1990s. They began demanding an official apology and legal compensation from the Japanese government. Some became leaders of the redress movement and made an international impact.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
"Comfort Women" Then and Now: Who They Were and Why We Should Remember Them" was made possible in partnership with the Museum of Social Justice, Comfort Women Action for Redress & Education (CARE), and CSUN Impact DesignHub.
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This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities. |
1895–1945
After winning the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Japan colonized Taiwan and Korea and continued to invade China and Southeast Asia. By 1942, Japan had become the largest empire in history.
Historians estimate the number of victims ranges from at least 50,000 up to 400,000 women and girls from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, and East Timor, as well as countries with military and civilian presence in the regions, such as the Netherlands, Germany, France, United Kingdom, and the United States.
The dots on the map represent the locations of the “comfort stations.” The areas in which they were set up match with Japan’s war zones and occupied territories.
Women were confined in remote foreign territories under brutal conditions and forced to have sex with as many as 40 soldiers a day. The women suffered severely from physical and psychological abuse, unwanted pregnancies, and forced abortion. Those who tried to escape were mercilessly killed in front of other women as a warning to them.
This document from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the war shows how the Japanese military could transport “comfort women” overseas without needing passports.
As a result of the Japanese military’s willful destruction of documents at the end of the war, no one knows precisely how many girls and women were victimized, but surviving documents and testimonies of victims and witnesses demonstrate the existence and the scale of the sex slavery system. |
Military doctors regularly examined women for venereal diseases, but other diseases were not treated. One Japanese military document refers to the “comfort stations” as “public toilets.” The Japanese military built the stations and established rules and regulations, including visiting times and fees.
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Explanation of Japan’s aggression into Asia and the Nanjing Massacre, including testimonies of a “comfort woman” survivor and witnesses.
The pregnant woThe pregnant woman (Young-shim Park from North Korea)in the photo of the “comfort women” rescued in China (photo above) had been enslaved at the Lijixiang Comfort Station (lower left photo). Park testified at the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery in Tokyo, Japan, in 2000, and she visited and identified the Nanjing site in 2003.
Near the end of the war, the Japanese military not only destroyed documents but also massacred “comfort women” to cover up the crime. Only a small number of women survived the war, and the lucky ones were found by the Allied forces and sent back home. Some women chose to stay where they had been abandoned out of shame and never returned home.
THE SURVIVORS
Seo-woon Chung, South Korea (1924–2004)
Yong-soo Lee, South Korea (1928–)
Bok-dong Kim, South Korea (1926–2019)
Ines Magalhaes Goncalves, East Timor (1930–)

Japanese troops came to Ines Magalhaes Goncalves’s village around 1943. She was forced to build a road during the day and have sex with Japanese soldiers at night. She said, “I was still a child and did not have periods yet.” She had to have sex with four to eight soldiers a night and became so ill that she could no longer serve as a “comfort woman.” While she was at the “comfort station,” she gave birth to a girl, but the military took the child away when the troops had to leave. She felt ashamed her whole life and is still waiting for an apology from the Japanese government.
Soo-dan Lee, Korean in China (1922–2016)

Soo-dan Lee was 18 when she was sent to China to serve as a “comfort woman” for five years. After the war, she remained in the remote area of China where the Japanese military abandoned her. She lost her mother tongue over several decades, and she never was able to return to Korea. At the end of her life, she became attached to a baby doll, giving it tremendous care and love as if it were a real baby. Photographer Se-hong Ahn of the JUJU Project visited her several times to take photos of her.
Suharti, Indonesia (1927–2018)

In 1942, Japan invaded Indonesia, then a Dutch colony. Suharti was born in Blitar, East Java. In 1944, the Japanese Army ordered the village officers to register all girls and boys of 15 years or older. The village chief told Suharti’s father she would be educated in another city and work in an office. Despite her father’s strong opposition, Suharti was shipped to Balikpapan, where she was enslaved for six months. She was interviewed by Koichi Kimura and Eka Hindrati in 1996. (Photo by Meichi Sitorus)
1991–1995
The survivors who returned to their homes lived in silence for decades, quietly suffering from the physical ailments and psychological trauma that lasted their entire lives. Lack of understanding and support from their families and communities made their lives harder. Many never got married and lived in poverty and isolation. In the 1980s, South Korea went through significant social changes, and the growing democratization movement enabled the victims to gain voices with the help of women’s rights activists.
Hak-soon Kim First Public Testimony on August 14, 1991
Hak-soon Kim protested the Asian Women’s Fund in 1995.The Asian Women’s Fund was established by the Japanese government to raise money from Japanese citizens and corporations to create a fund – dubbed as “atonement money” – to provide financial assistance to the surviving victims. The Japanese supporters of the “comfort women” issue were sharply divided over this Fund because many survivors viewed the Fund as a hush money and a way to evade the government’s legal responsibility.
Hak-soon Kim’s breaking of silence encouraged other survivors to come out in Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, Australia, and other countries. The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan organized the Asian Solidarity Conference, where the survivors and the activists gathered every two years and worked together to demand justice from the Japanese government. Lawsuits were filed against the Japanese government in the 1990s, but the victims received unfavorable rulings from the Japanese courts. |
JAPAN'S ONGOING HISTORY REVISIONISM
Japan’s attempt to remove “comfort women:” memorials in the U.S. (2018)
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Japan complains about “comfort women” memorial in Berlin, Germany (2020) |
The Japanese prime minister asks the German chancellor to help remove the “comfort women” memorial in Berlin (2022) |
A UN human rights body reprimands Japan for continuing violations of the victims’ human rights (2022)
The Human Rights Committee, monitor of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, observed in a 2022 report that Japan “has made no progress with regard to the Committee’s previous recommendations and continues to deny its obligation, under the Covenant, to address the continuing violations of the victims’ human rights.” The report stated that the committee “regrets the lack of criminal investigation and prosecution of perpetrators and the lack of effective remedies and full reparation to all victims of past human rights violations.”
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Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama tells a United Nations committee in Geneva that there was “no documentary evidence to prove any ‘comfort women’ were forcibly recruited” (2016, shortly after the 2015 agreement)
1996–2007
UN Special Reports, 1996 and 1998
In 1996 and 1998, UN special rapporteurs issued reports on the system of the “comfort station.” In the 1996 report, the system is defined as “military sexual slavery,” a “war crime,” and a “crime against humanity.”
Special Rapporteur Radhika Coomaraswamy made the following six recommendations by which the Japanese government should render justice to surviving victims of military sexual slavery:
The Government of Japan should: (a) Acknowledge that the system of comfort stations set up by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War was a violation of its obligations under international law and accept legal responsibility for that violation; (b) Pay compensation to individual victims of Japanese military sexual slavery…; (c) Make a full disclosure of documents and materials in its possession with regard to comfort stations and other related activities of the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War; (d) Make a public apology in writing to individual women who have come forward and can be substantiated as women victims of Japanese military sexual slavery; (e) Raise awareness of these issues by amending educational curricula to reflect historical realities; (f) Identify and punish, as far as possible, perpetrators involved in the recruitment and institutionalization of comfort stations during the Second World War.
Special Rapporteur Radhika Coomaraswamy made the following six recommendations by which the Japanese government should render justice to surviving victims of military sexual slavery:
The Government of Japan should: (a) Acknowledge that the system of comfort stations set up by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War was a violation of its obligations under international law and accept legal responsibility for that violation; (b) Pay compensation to individual victims of Japanese military sexual slavery…; (c) Make a full disclosure of documents and materials in its possession with regard to comfort stations and other related activities of the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War; (d) Make a public apology in writing to individual women who have come forward and can be substantiated as women victims of Japanese military sexual slavery; (e) Raise awareness of these issues by amending educational curricula to reflect historical realities; (f) Identify and punish, as far as possible, perpetrators involved in the recruitment and institutionalization of comfort stations during the Second World War.
Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery in Tokyo, Japan, in 2000 (People’s Tribunal)
International jurists found Emperor Hirohito guilty of enslaving women from the Asia-Pacific region in military brothels.
Jan Ruff-O’Herne speaking at US congressional hearing |
Three Grandmas (Koon-ja Kim, Yong-soo Lee, and Jan Ruff-O’Herne) at the US congressional hearing |
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U.S. Congress House Resolution 2007
In 2007, the US Congress passed a resolution urging the Japanese government to take historical responsibility for institutionalized sexual slavery. Korean Americans led a nationwide grassroots movement to urge congressional members to support the resolution.
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Yong-soo Lee and supporters at Capitol Hill on the day when House Resolution 121 passed
GRANDMAS' PAINTINGS
After Hak-soon Kim’s press conference, more survivors came out and identified themselves as former “comfort women.” A Buddhist organization established the House of Sharing for survivors who were living in poverty and isolation. In the early 1990s, volunteers ran programs for the Grandmas at the House of Sharing, and one of these programs was an art class that evolved into art therapy. Gradually, Grandmas learned to face their trauma more directly and express their feelings in sketchbooks. These paintings were exhibited in Korea, Japan, the United States, and elsewhere. Here are some of those paintings.
Kyung-shin Lee was a young college graduate who volunteered to help the Grandmas living in the House of Sharing to learn how to paint from 1993 to 1997. After the 2015 agreement was announced, Lee published Motdahpin Kot (Unbloomed Flowers), a memoir of her journey with the Grandmas as their teacher, friend, and art therapist. Girls 5 is one of the Girl Series, which represents “comfort women” victims.
Duk-kyung Kang (1929–1997)

Duk-kyung Kang was a high school freshman (16 years old) when she was mobilized by her teacher to join the Labor Corps to support Japan’s war efforts. She was taken to Japan and suffered from hard labor in a factory. She ran away but was caught by soldiers who raped her and took her to a “comfort station.” Living in the House of Sharing, Grandma Kang started to learn to paint, but it took a long time for her to decide to paint her trauma as a “comfort woman.” Her works were exhibited in Korea and Japan. She created many paintings and sketches depicting her own and other “comfort women’s” experiences before she died of lung cancer.
Soon-duk Kim (1921–2004)

Soon-duk Kim was 17 when she was recruited to become a nurse. Instead, she was taken to a “comfort station” in Shanghai, China. After returning to Korea, she married and had two sons and a daughter. Her paintings were exhibited in Korea and Japan, and her work Unbloomed Flower was gifted to Pope Francis.
Il-chul Kang (1928–)

Il-chul Kang was the youngest daughter in her family. She was forcibly taken away from her home in 1943 to endure life as a “comfort woman” in China. After the war, she couldn’t return to Korea, so she became a nurse in China. She came to Korea in 2000 and started living in the House of Sharing in 2004. Grandma Kang visited the United States many times to promote the “comfort women” issue, including in 2014 when she came to help the City of Glendale defeat a lawsuit to remove the Peace Monument. Her painting Girls Being Burnt was the motif for a feature film, Spirits Homecoming.