S. Korean WWII sex slavery victim dies, surviving victims fall to 18

SEOUL - A South Korean victim, who was forced into sex slavery for Japan's military brothels during World War II, died this week, reducing the number of surviving victims in the country to 18, a civic group said Tuesday.

The victim, only identified with her surname Lee, passed away on Monday at the age of 92 at her home in Daegu, about 300 km southeast of the capital Seoul, according to the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, a local civic group supporting the wartime sex enslavement victims.

The deceased Lee, born in 1928 in Pohang, North Gyeongsang province, was forcibly taken by the Japanese Imperial Army to China and forced into sex enslavement for Japanese troops at the age of 17.

The Korean Peninsula was colonized by the Imperial Japan from 1910 to 1945.

After the peninsula's liberation, Lee had lived in China for decades. She returned home in 2000s after recovering her nationality.

Lee's death left only 18 surviving victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery in South Korea, out of the 238 officially registered with the South Korean government as former sex slaves.

Historians say as many as 400,000 women from Asian countries were coerced into sex enslavement for the Japanese military brothels during World War II.