--- title: Comfort Women Have Waited a Long Time for Apology description: My 93-year-old mother was forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II. She has waited too long canonical: https://time.com/4162815/comfort-women-sex-slavery/ author: Carol Ruff article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-29T14:38:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:40:12.441Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 'Comfort Women' Have Waited a Long Time for an Apology og:description: My 93-year-old mother was forced into sexual slavery during World War II og:url: https://time.com/4162815/comfort-women-sex-slavery/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc0c6456fcfbf224f/698877075f570f30abb1efb9/comfort-women.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: South Korea And Japan Hold Ministerial Meeting On 'Comfort Women' Issue og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Comfort Women' Have Waited a Long Time for an Apology twitter:description: My 93-year-old mother was forced into sexual slavery during World War II twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc0c6456fcfbf224f/698877075f570f30abb1efb9/comfort-women.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Comfort Women' Have Waited a Long Time for an Apology ## Video: Know Right Now: South Korea and Japan Settle Deal on Wartime ‘Comfort Women’ [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: South Korea and Japan Settle Deal on Wartime ‘Comfort Women’](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qvGRMygH.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2015-12-28. South Korea and Japan reached a deal to resolve their decades long impasse over Korean ‘comfort women’_ by [Carol Ruff](https://time.com/author/carol-ruff/) ## Carol Ruff Dec 29, 2015 2:38 PM UTC  A statue of a girl symbolizing the issue of "comfort women" in front of the Japanese Embassy on December 28, 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met to discuss the issue of Korean 'comfort women' in Japanese military brothels before and during World War II. A statue of a girl symbolizing the issue of "comfort women" in front of the Japanese Embassy on December 28, 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met to discuss the issue of Korean 'comfort women' in Japanese military brothels before and during World War II.Chung Sung-Jun—Getty Images by [Carol Ruff](https://time.com/author/carol-ruff/) ## Carol Ruff Dec 29, 2015 2:38 PM UTC What wonderful news it is that South Korea and Japan have finally reached a formal [deal](http://time.com/4161946/south-korea-japan-sex-slave-deal/) over “comfort women,” those forced into Japanese military brothels during World War II. Japan offered an apology and a $8.3 million aid fund for the former sex slaves. My mother, a Dutch woman, Jan Ruff O’Herne, was a former “comfort woman” in Java in 1944\. When the Japanese invaded Java in 1942, my mother, who was living in Java with her Dutch colonial family, was interned in Ambarawa Prison Camp along with her mother and two younger sisters. When she was 21 years old, she was taken out and forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military, where she was repeatedly beaten and raped. According to historians, [tens of thousands of women](http://time.com/4161946/south-korea-japan-sex-slave-deal/), including up to [300 Dutch women](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/11/01/national/media-national/uncomfortable-truth-comfort-women/#.VoKXkpMrLBI), were forced to work in Japanese military brothels. My mother, who is about to turn 93, and so many of the former “comfort women” have waited a long time for an official apology and compensation. My mother was shocked and insulted in 2007 when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [stated](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1544471/Japanese-PM-denies-wartime-comfort-women-were-forced.html) that enforced sexual slavery never happened and that the women were all volunteers. My mother welcomes any agreement that might ease the pain and suffering of the “comfort women.” She is pleased that even the Abe government has acknowledged that the Japanese military was involved in creating the “comfort women” system and that the current government is aware of “[responsibilities](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3d9cec9f9b2e414a97a82c45b94ce2c1/japan-south-korea-settle-wartime-sex-slave-dispute).” I now wonder if the Japanese government will negotiate similar agreements with the victims of other countries. My mother has never received an apology, nor a letter, nor any funds “for recovering her honor and dignity and healing the psychological wounds.” She says: “All of us deserve an apology and compensation. 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