Comfort women

Rare card · No. 21925

Comfort women were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term comfort women is a translation of the Japanese ianfu (慰安婦), a euphemism that literally means "comforting, consoling woman". Japanese troops forced tens or even hundreds of thousands of women into sexual enslavement, mostly from Korea but also from Australia, Burma, China, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, East Timor, New Guinea and other countries. Many women died due to brutal mistreatment; far more sustained physical and emotional distress. After the war, Japan denied the existence of comfort women, refusing to provide an apology or appropriate restitution. After numerous demands for an apology and the revelation of official records showing the Japanese government's culpability, the Japanese government began to offer an official apology and compensation in the 1990s. However, apologies have...

Read on Wikipedia · Image U.S. Army, Public domain