It has been 63 years since the Pacific War (1941~1945) ended. For so many Asian women, however, the war has never ended, as many are still living with the nightmare of the atrocities the Japanese troops had imposed on them with the military, government-led, ‘sex slavery system.’ LEE Soo-San, a Korean-born Chinese woman, was 17 and so was Jan Ruff O’Herne, a Dutch-born Australian, when they were kidnapped by the Japanese army stationed in Java, Indonesia. Rayes and Fria...more

It has been 63 years since the Pacific War (1941~1945) ended. For so many Asian women, however, the war has never ended, as many are still living with the nightmare of the atrocities the Japanese troops had imposed on them with the military, government-led, ‘sex slavery system.’ LEE Soo-San, a Korean-born Chinese woman, was 17 and so was Jan Ruff O’Herne, a Dutch-born Australian, when they were kidnapped by the Japanese army stationed in Java, Indonesia. Rayes and Frias were only 13 and 15, respectively, at the time they were violated by the Japanese soldiers occupying their motherland Philippines. A Chinese woman Wei Shao Lan was a young bride of 18 when she was caught… These are a few exemplary cases of the estimated 200,000 Asian women who were taken by force by Japanese troops as ‘comfort women,’ as officially but secretly drafted sex slaves. To be exact, to serve the Japanese troops in a few thousand or more ‘comfort stations’ set up in 13 Asia-Pacific countries occupied by Japan during the war. Another KIM Dong-Won masterpiece focusing on the very basic issue of human rights violations, the documentary looks into the horror and pain of the secretive life those five women had to lead for 63 years. The film also questions, gently but firmly, when or how the sincere apology accompanying appropriate compensation from the Japanese government will be realized, liberating both the victims and offenders all together from the bondage of those atrocities…less