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Controversy over ‘comfort women’

Bronze busts of "comfort women," who spent World War II in Japanese military brothels, cover a portion of the courtyard at "The House of Sharing" in Seoul. Details about each woman and her plight are engraved in marble.

Bronze busts of “comfort women,” who spent World War II in Japanese military brothels, cover a portion of the courtyard at “The House of Sharing” in Seoul. Details about each woman and her plight are engraved in marble.  (Matt Douma / For the Los Angeles Times)

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“The House of Sharing” in Seoul was created to care for victims of Japanese wartime sexual slavery and highlight their stories.
Read more: Glendale steps into controversy with memorial to WWII sex slaves

Comfort women

Kang Il-Chuk, 86, takes a break from working in her garden patch at “The House of Sharing.” “I won’t just disappear quietly,” Kang said in an interview last week with the Los Angeles Times. “Until the day I die, I will raise my voice to fight the Japanese government.” Japanese soldiers forced Kang into service in a military brothel when she was 15.  (Matt Douma / For the Los Angeles Times)

Comfort women

A sculpture at “The House of Sharing” in Seoul depicts a wartime Korean sex slave struggling to free herself from quicksand.   (Matt Douma / For the Los Angeles Times)

Comfort women

Some of the former “comfort women” residing at “The House of Sharing” require constant care from volunteers. Kim Oe-han, 82, has lost her ability to speak.   (Matt Douma / For the Los Angeles Times)

Comfort women

A museum exhibit in Seoul shows a room where Korean women held as sexual slaves were forced to provide sexual services to the Japanese military. Victims have described being forced to service up to 50 men daily.  (Matt Douma / For the Los Angeles Times)

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