# ATTENTION: today’s topic is quite sensitive to some people. It can be offensive, uncomfortable and depressing. If you are not willing to read this post, then I am not forcing you.#

Petals or flowers…. We do know that flower is one of commonly used symbolism to describe women. Why are flowers used to symbolize the women? I think it is because flower is weak (compare to other plants), visually appealing and how flowers attract bees when they bloom? That is also similar to girls becoming women. After it blooms, it will naturally cease and create seeds to spread.

Most women in Korea during Japanese colonization believed they will have perfectly normal lives same as what their mothers, grandmothers, grand-grandmothers lived. Marrying a man, having children and becoming old to see grandchildren and die surrounded by families. But these were shattered when Japanese government thought of something incredibly, outrageously inhuman act.

Japan participated in a lot of wars, including WW2. Whenever wars happen, government allowed soldiers to rape women whether they were young or old. In Nanking Massacre that happened in 1937, soldiers killed numerous citizens and captured women alive. They killed women, too when they were done raping them. Realizing that killing women after raping them is quite inefficient, they thought of new idea. The idea was to create station in places where wars were happening and place women in those stations to become sex slaves….

Of course, they wouldn’t let Japanese citizens to participate in the station. Instead, Japanese government started to put out fake information throughout the villages to collect women. The fake information was mostly the “jobs” that women could easily do to help male in wars. Some examples were nurse, cook, and many others. When women came into sign up for the job, government promised to send the money to the family or pay money to her. Women or girls believed those words and left home, families to do “work”.

It was really lucky for some women to stay in Korea. Most of them were taken to foreign countries where they know nothing of.

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Then they were raped by soldiers. They shouted out in resistance, tried to run away from this place. But they couldn’t. If they resisted, they were beaten up severely and raped numerous times. In small room where women can just lay her back down, sometime more than 50 soldiers came to rape the women in small room. They were given only few condoms entire time to prevent HIVS or any sex related diseases. One of survivors even said they had to wash condoms to reuse in attempt to prevent illness. But obviously it is not enough to prevent from illness or getting pregnant.

If women do get illness and become pregnant, they blame women for not acting right and punished or even killed for this. If women tried to run off and caught, they call all the women and killed caught women inhumane way in front of all the people. One of the known way that I read somewhere was to roll the women in spiked board from end to end and cut off her head when she reaches the other end. If pregnant, soldiers put heated metal up to vagina to cause abortion.

One of the victim is lady above. Looking at her stomach, we could see various stamps. It is all from Japanese soldiers who put burning metal on women’s stomach to punish their wrong behaviour along with recognition who she is.

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After the war ended, some women were fortunate enough to return to their own country to find the family. But not all of them are lucky enough to return but to remain in unknown country with unknown people, language and environment. However, it wasn’t even fortunate for the women who returned to Korea. Since family made them disgrace of the family and never acknowledge them. It is quite depressing to see how they are treated as disease if they returned.

Japanese government who planned all of this and let the event to happen is still denying the fact that they are the ones who caused it. Women or girls who were now called as “Enforced sex slaves” become old ladies and still just wait for sincere apologies.

Writing regarding to this topic is just horrific and blood boiling. I still don’t know a lot about this topic and don’t know how to describe all the events that happened but this is what I can possibly do to describe. If you have any ideas, comments or want to share your knowledge. Please do.

#Adding on to this post, I saw recent Korea’s news that Japanese government is willing to apology and pay to Enforced Sex Slaves but that is not until the statue to memorize Enforced Sex Slaves were removed. Don’t you all think this is just ridiculous?

위안부 평화비 소녀상
(서울=연합뉴스) 진성철 기자 = 제1000차 일본군 위안부 문제 해결을 위한 정기 수요시위가 14일 서울 중학동 주한 일본대사관 앞에서 열렸다. 이날 제막된 위안부 평화비의 소녀상이 조용히 일본 대사관을 바라보고 있다. 2011.12.14(It is set in front of Japanese embassy silently staring at the building)
zjin@yna.co.kr/2011-12-14 17:37:52/

Japanese people are not even getting educated on this problems and they put up hilarious and mocking photoshopped statue to mock women who were raped by soldiers. They comment by saying how women were “willing” to give their body away to Japanese soldiers. It is very ignorant saying.

# when searching there will be more information of Enforced Sex Slaves in “Comfort Woman” but recently UN declared to use “enforced sex slaves” as right term to describe. #