The Second World War ended 63 years ago today, but for 200,000 'comfort women' who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers, the war has never ended, a victim has said.
Australian Jan Ruff O'Hearne and Korean Gil Won-Ok shared stories of their suffering at the hands of Japanese soldiers and officers with 50 people who rallied in central Sydney today to lend their support to a parliamentary motion.
Organiser Anna Song said they were calling on the Rudd government to pass a motion calling for the Japanese government to formally and unequivocally apologise to the 200,000 women the military forced into sexual slavery.
"Jan Ruff O'Herne told them that August 15 marked the end of WWII, but for the comfort women the war never ended," Ms Song said.
"Gil Won-Ok told them she had travelled all this way from Korea to speak to everyone there so that when they heard her story they could spread the word about the comfort women, one by one."
Ms O'Herne, 85, went to Washington DC last year testify before a US congressional panel about her repeated rape by Japanese soldiers.
The panel overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution urging Japan to apologise for coercing the women to work as sex slaves during the war.
