‘Comfort woman’ victim Lee Yong-soo (fourth from left) testifies about the misery of her suffering, during the ’Comfort Women’ Victims' Suffering hearing held in the French House of Commons in Paris on March 8. (Gwangmyeong City Hall)
By Min Yea-Ji and Son Gina
A 90-year-old woman, Lee Yong-soo, who was a victim of sex slavery enforced by the Imperial Japanese government during colonial times and World War II, a former colonial policy that is at the root of the current #MeToo movement, visited the French House of Commons in Paris to mark International Women's Day on March 8, testifying about her terrible devastation.
She testified about the inhumane treatment to which she and others were subjected and the numerous violations of human rights that she and others suffered. She was forcibly taken by the Japanese military at the age of 15, and was enslaved on board warships that housed some 300 soldiers and at a suicide commando unit stationed in Taiwan.
Speaking through tears, she said, “When I rejected the demands of the soldiers, I was tortured with electricity. There was a clot of blood coming out of my body. It's still too painful to speak about what happened then."
"I am a living witness to history,” she said, emphasizing that, "I demand Japan's official apology and legal compensation."
The members of the French House of Commons who heard her testimony truly felt the weight of her suffering.
"Japan must acknowledge the past and apologize sincerely," said member of parliament Joachim Son-Forget, a Korean adoptee.
Senator Catherine Dumas said, "I was impressed by her courageous and decisive testimony on International Women's Day. I will inform other French female politicians about this painful incident, which is not widely known in France."
The testimony was confirmed by request of former French State Reform and Simplification Minister Jean-Vincent Place, another Korean adoptee, who visited the House of Sharing in Korea on Feb. 27 as Gwangmyeong Mayor Yang Ki-dae’s guest.
Mayor Yang visited UNESCO headquarters and the French House of Commons with former minister Jean-Vincent Place when UNESCO shelved the registration of the records of the so-called “comfort women” on Memory of the World day in late October last year.
After her visit to the House of Commons, Lee Yong-soo, along with Mayor Yang, and the head of the House of Sharing, Ahn Shin Kwon, picketed in front of UNESCO headquarters in Paris calling for the registration of all "comfort women" records.
Victim of sex slavery Lee Yong-soo (second from left) poses for a commemorative photo with members of the French House of Commons after testifying about the misery of her suffering, in Paris on International Women's Day, March 8. From left are Gwangmyeong Mayor Yang Ki-dae, Lee, member of parliament Joachim Son-Forget, Senator Catherine Dumas and former French State Reform and Simplification Minister Jean-Vincent Place. (Gwangmyeong City Hall)
Lee Yong-soo is a sex slavery survivor, one of the so-called ‘comfort women.’ They were forced into sex slavery by the Japanese government during colonial times and World War II. ‘Let's remember the past together to go to the future,’ said member of parliament Joachim Son-Forget in a tweet after listening to her testimony on March 8. (Son-Forget’s Twitter feed)
jesimin@korea.kr
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