SEOUL — With the issue of restoring the honor of Korean women who were forced to become sex slaves for the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II still making little progress, another former comfort woman died before the matter could be resolved.
Mun Myong-gum, 83, passed away Nov. 3 at Asan Medical Center after suffering a stroke and other complications.
Born in Kwangyang, Cholla-namdo, in 1917, Mun was taken to Heilongjiang, northeastern China by the Japanese at 18 to serve as a sex slave. She was kept in slavery by Japan for about 10 years.
She married an ethnic Korean there after liberation but could not give birth due to the aftereffects of the sex slavery.
Mun led a hard and difficult life, often doing manual labor to get by after her husband died. In September of last year, she finally returned to her home country after 64 years, and moved into the "House of Sharing," a shelter for former comfort women, in Kwangju, Kyonggi-do.
Mun was especially remembered for donating her entire fortune of 43 million won in June to the commission of fact-finding of civilian massacres during the Vietnam War, an organization formed to inquire into the alleged atrocities conducted by Korean soldiers.
The 43 million won mainly consisted of subsidies from the government and donations from civil organizations.
"Mun always longed to come back to her home country while living in China. It is so heartbreaking that she had to pass away after only a year since she restored her Korean citizenship," said Chin Hyun-jong of the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.
As of June this year, a total of 199 women are registered as former comfort women. Among them, 56 women have passed away in a period of ten years, Chin said. Mun was the ninth comfort woman to pass away this year.
"Most of the comfort women are in their 70s and 80s. They are suffering from poor health as well as economic hardship," Chin explained.
"The government must actively move to resolve this issue before it is too late," she emphasized.