JAPAN Sex slaves hold mock tribunal
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from December 2000.
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The four-day mock tribunal, in a Tokyo assembly hall, was expected to hear the testimony of about 80 former sex slaves over four days and come to a verdict next week.
The women, from North and South Korea, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, East Timor and the Netherlands, are demanding an official apology from Japan and compensation.
One former sex slave, Pak Yong-sim, 78, of South Korea, said she was forced into a brothel when she was 17 and worked there for seven years. A photograph displayed in the hall showed her pregnant, but she said she lost the baby because she was raped by Japanese soldiers. "Every day, tens of Japanese soldiers came to us and we were forced to provide services and even had to cook food for them," she said in video-taped testimony.
Historians say Japan forced about 200,000 women to work in military brothels during World War II. Tokyo has acknowledged the policy, but has refused to provide official compensation or an official apology to individuals.
The tribunal was more symbolic than a strictly legal proceeding, and there was no defence team for the accused, including the late Emperor Hirohito, military leaders and Cabinet ministers who led Japan's colonial march through Asia.
