Sex Slavery Victims Mark 25 Years of Protests

Kim Bok-dong and Kil Won-ok, who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers in World War II, blow out candles on a rice cake marking the 25th anniversary of weekly protests in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday.

This coming Sunday marks the 25th anniversary of weekly protests by women who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers in World War II.

The protests have been held in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul every Wednesday since Jan. 8, 1992, when they started ahead of a visit to Korea by then Japanese prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa.

The 1,264th protest on Wednesday was attended by two victims, Kim Bok-dong (90) and Kil Won-ok (88), and about 200 activists and students from around the country.

The two victims were honored with two plastic statues dedicated to them by sculptors Kim Seo-kyung and her husband Kim Woon-sung. The Kims plan to cast the new statues in bronze and place them in a museum in Mapo in western Seoul.

The couple are also behind a symbolic statue honoring the victims that was set up in front of the Japanese Embassy on Dec. 14, 2011 to mark the 1,000th Wednesday protest. Copies have since been set up in 61 locations throughout the country and abroad, including the U.S. and China.

The number of surviving victims has dwindled from 238, when the first protest was held, to just 39.