The Voices of Survivors
Kim Young-shil (survivor): ““There was a girl next to my cubicle. She was younger than I... One day an officer overheard her speaking to me and accused her of speaking Korean. He dragged her out to a field and ordered all of us to come out there. We all obeyed. He said, 'This girl spoke Korean. So she must die. You will be killed if you do too. Now, watch how she dies.' He drew his sword. Horrified, I closed my eyes and turned my face away. When I opened my eyes, I saw her severed head on the ground” (Sonen).
Chong Ok Sun (survivor): “Each time I protested, they hit me or stuffed rags in my mouth. One held a matchstick to my private parts until I obeyed him. My private parts were oozing with blood. One Korean girl who was with us once demanded why we had to serve so many, up to forty men per day. To punish her for her questioning, the Japanese company commander Yamamoto ordered her to be beaten with a sword. While we were watching, they took off her clothes, tied her legs and hands and rolled her over a board with nails until the nails were covered with blood and pieces of her flesh. In the end, they cut off her head. Another Japanese, Yamamoto, told us that 'it's easy to kill you all, easier than killing dogs.' He also said 'since those Korean girls are crying because they have not eaten, boil the human flesh and make them eat it’” (Sonen).
Survivor Chung Seo-Woon recounts her experience in the comfort women system paired with animation of her story
Trigger warning: physical and sexual violence, drug use and addiction, suicide
Survivor Kim Bok-Dong shares her story as a former comfort woman and her perspective on the Japanese government's continued denial of responsibility
Trigger warning: physical and sexual violence, suicide
CNN report on survivors living in a sanctuary in South Korea and what they demand of the Japanese government