Comfort women, ex-soldiers tell of wartime horrors

Victims of war atrocities from various Asian nations, along with war crimes experts and Imperial Japanese Army soldiers made statements over the weekend at the Women¡¯s International War Crimes Court in Tokyo, a non-binding ¡°trial¡± of Japanese authorities for wrongdoing allegedly committed during World War II.

Former soldiers Suzuki Yoshio (80) and Kaneko Yasugi (80), who served during the war in Sandoong province in China, provided vivid statements on the circumstances surrounding Japan¡¯s alleged use of military ¡°comfort women¡± or sex slaves. Suzuki said that he remembered a time when six women were raped in a Chinese village after officers ordered that they be killed.

The court prosecutor said, "It is time for the Japanese government acknowledge responsibility for the crimes that have been committed. Statements made by the surviving comfort women clearly show that the Japanese government had a part in the rape and sex slavery of women."

Victims from the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Indonesia and East Timor also made statements during the two-day proceedings.