Originally Posted: July 25, 2016
The issue of “comfort women” still simmers. To draw attention to it, three Korean cyclists are journeying across the United States, and they just stopped in Dallas.
During World War II, the Japanese military forced about 200,000 women and girls from throughout Asia and other regions into sexual slavery. About 80 percent of these “comfort women” were Korean. Tae Woo Kim, 22, Hyun-Gu Kim, 24, and Han-Kyul Kim, 24, are raising awareness about this tragic chapter in Korean history.
The issue gained widespread publicity in 1991, when Korean ex-comfort women filed a class-action suit against Japan. The Japanese government has since apologized and agreed to pay $8.3 million to a foundation that helps surviving victims in Korea. But the women want more. They want Japan to admit it was a government-sanctioned program — a step it so far has refused to take.
“Only a handful of U.S. citizens know about what happened,” said Tae Woo Kim. “We are meeting with families and sharing information.”
The cyclists, who attend college in Seoul, started their journey in Los Angeles. They will continue to Chicago and Washington, D.C., before ending in New York. It’s going well, they said, but the heat has posed a challenge. READ MORE