From Amnesia to Remembrance: The Unfinished Story of the ‘Comfort Women’

By Liu Tianyang  –  Aug 28, 2025

More than 80 years after World War II, one of its darkest legacies remains painfully unresolved. An estimated 400,000 women from China, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and beyond were forced into sexual slavery by Japan’s military – a brutal system that killed many and left survivors with lifelong trauma. For decades, these “comfort women” lived in silence, their wartime wounds hidden from history. That began to change in 1991 when South Korean survivor Kim Hak-sun broke the silence and told her story to the world. Her courage inspired thousands of other survivors across Asia to come forward.

Today, the number of living survivors is dwindling. In China, Peng Zhuying, now 96, is one of the few who remain. Speaking in June 2025, Peng made her demand clear: “I am a 96-year-old survivor from Yueyang City. I demand the Japanese government acknowledge its wartime crimes and issue a formal, unreserved apology.” Her words echo the unhealed pain that still demands justice.

Unearthing a buried history
For decades after 1945, the truth of the “comfort women” was buried. These women in their teens or twenties then, were abducted into Japanese military brothels. Many died from torture, others were left infertile or deeply scarred for life. But their suffering was not forgotten by all. Activists and historians have worked for years to recover every scrap of testimony and documentation.

In China, the fight to preserve this history has been led by Professor Su Zhiliang of Shanghai Normal University. After hearing Kim Hak-sun’s testimony in 1991, Professor Su and his wife, Chen Lifei launched a decades-long project to find survivors and evidence. By 1999, he had established the Research Center on the “comfort women” issue. Su’s team crisscrossed China, eventually identifying over 300 survivors and amassing diaries, letters and official records proving the existence of the wartime brothels and the Japanese military’s role.

Professor Su says “even in Japan, there remains a large body of evidence showing that the Japanese government and military were actively involved in implementing the system of sexual slavery. They bear undeniable responsibility.” This contradicts claims by Japanese officials that “there is no evidence.” In China, Su’s team found a Korean community registry from Jinhua city listing 126 young women with no occupations, all living with a known comfort-station owner. They were certainly the “comfort women,” as later confirmed by a survivor’s testimony for that same address.

He also helped build the Chinese “Comfort Women” History Museum in Shanghai. This humble building, guided by survivors’ testimonies and documents gathered over 30 years, now stands as a monument to memory. It also supports the living victims. The research center runs a relief fund to provide health care, living stipends and even burial costs for the survivors. Professor Su’s team recently visited six survivors in Hunan Province to deliver living expenses and help them write an appeal to UNESCO. He says “the survivors urgently call on UNESCO to treat this matter with seriousness and expedite the process.”

UNESCO’s bid to preserve history
The call for United Nations’ involvement reflects a broader effort to have the world officially remember the “comfort women.” In 2016, civil society groups from eight countries and regions (China, South Korea, the Philippines, among them) compiled an archive of “comfort women” testimonies and artifacts for UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. This effort was known as “Voices of the Comfort Women.” But the issue quickly became a geopolitical flashpoint. A Japanese nationalist group submitted a rival nomination denying the forced slavery narrative. UNESCO suspended both nominations in 2017 and called for dialogue.

Critics say the standoff has been highly politicized. As Heisoo Shin, director of the secretariat of the international committee behind the joint nomination, explains, even unprecedented diplomatic pressure was applied: “From the beginning, the decision of UNESCO was very political… The Japanese government threatened UNESCO: ‘We will withdraw our membership or contributions,’ which would greatly affect UNESCO’s finances.” More than eight years later, the UNESCO listing has yet to be resolved.

For survivors, this is a painful limbo. The archival effort was meant not just as documentation but as a plea for justice that transcends borders. As Professor Su’s team gathered survivors’ handprints and video statements, many hope including these testimonies in the world’s memory archives will bolster long-delayed accountability.

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Global solidarity and ongoing struggle
The legacy of the “comfort women” has become a global human rights concern. In South Korea, the Statue of Peace – a symbol of the “comfort women” – stands outside the Japanese embassy and has been replicated in cities around the world, from New York to Berlin. Every Wednesday, crowds gather in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul and the Consulate in Busan to demand an official apology and compensation. Survivors in Indonesia and the Philippines have formed support groups and even filed war crimes lawsuits against Japan. The late Jan Ruff-O’Herne, a Dutch survivor from the Dutch East Indies, spent her life advocating for recognition and justice for all victims.

International bodies have also spoken out. United Nations human rights reports since the 1990s have condemned the “comfort women” system as “sexual slavery” and repeatedly urged Japan to apologize and make amends. In 2014, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for a “comprehensive, just and lasting” solution. By 2016, UN experts were again stressing that Japan owes both an apology and reparations to the victims. Parliaments around the world – including in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands – passed resolutions in the 2000s demanding Japan acknowledge its responsibilities.

These international voices have met official resistance in Tokyo. Some Japanese leaders insist the issue was “settled” by agreements decades ago, ignoring survivor accounts. Right-wing narratives claim that general war suffering or the now-defunct Asian Women’s Fund are sufficient apologies. Survivors’ advocates reject this. Sharon Cabusao-Silva, executive director of the Lila Pilipina Center for Justice and Remembrance says the Asian Women’s Fund was never the compensation the victims demanded. They wanted an official public apology followed by concrete legal measures – not an unofficial fund meant to avoid full responsibility.

Japan’s denial only strengthens activists’ resolve. “It was not an easy process,” says Sharon Cabusao-Silva, reflecting on efforts to bring these stories to light. It took the support of historians, lawyers and advocates to help women come forward after 30 or 50 years of silence.

Remembrance and legacy
As the remaining survivors pass away, younger generations of activists and scholars carry the torch. Zhang Ruyi, a PhD student in Shanghai, says it’s important to tell the world about these victims: “We should speak out internationally and let the world know that such a group of victims once existed here.” In the Philippines, a survivor who passed away in November 2024, Lola Estelita Dy, has known she does not expect to achieve justice in her lifetime. But she hopes the lessons endure. She wants war “to never happen again” and for future generations to be taught to oppose such wars.

The story of the “comfort women” is still unfinished. Survivors are stepping out of the darkness of historical amnesia to reclaim their voice. They remind the world that their demands for recognition, apology and reparations are not mere history lessons  – they are living calls for justice. As Professor Su Zhiliang and others believe, to remember these women is to stand for human dignity and peace.

 

(CGTN)