Kim Bok-dong

Kim Bok-dong was born in Yangsan, Gyeongnam, South Korea in March 1926.[3] She was the fourth of six daughters. Her family was wealthy when she was young. However, later her family struggled economically and faced poverty. As a result, she had to put an end to her education. Bok-dong's father died when she was eight years old. Her three older sisters married to escape the hard times. Kim Bok-dong remained at home with her two younger sisters. Until at age 14~15 in 1941, Kim Bok-dong and her mother were cheated by Japanese authorities. Kim Bok-dong was told that she was to support the war efforts by working in a military clothing factory and would return in three years. If not, her family would be considered traitors. The Japanese authorities did not just take Kim Bok-dong away but demanded that her mother sign a document. Her mother could not read so she conceded to the demand, believing that her daughter would work in a factory in Japan.[4] Instead, she was forced into militarized sexual slavery in Japanese occupied territories for eight years, including Guangdong, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Kim Bok-dong had to have sex every day, especially from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

She tried to commit suicide with two other girls by alcohol poisoning, but Japanese found them unconscious. The army took them to the hospital and the medics revived them by pumping their stomachs, hurting them permanently. Ten days later, she finally woke up and decided to live to tell what happened.[5] She said if her father had been alive, she might not have been helplessly taken away.[6] At age 21 and after the war, Kim Bok-dong finally returned to her hometown. She did not tell her family what she had suffered, except her mother. Unfortunately, her mother became very distressed and died from a heart attack.[5]

After her return, she began to visit a temple. After the Korean War, she owned and operated a successful restaurant in Busan where her older sisters lived.[6] Kim Bok-dong eventually met a man whom she fell in love with. Despite having this love, she suffered throughout her life because she was never able to have a child. She believes this was a result of the sexual abuse she endured. Along with this, the man whom she married later died, not knowing her story. It was not until after her husband died that she began to speak about her experience.[3][2]

Kim Bok-dong stated, “Even as I returned to my homeland, it was never true liberation for me.”[7] After her husband died she began to speak out, and later joined another woman seeking official recognition as victims of Japanese sex slavery. In 1992, a year after Kim Hak-sun first broke silence on the issue, Kim Bok-dong finally publicly began to share her experience and detail what happened to her during her time as a sex slave. This was also the year in which she began to participate in the weekly protest, the Wednesday Demonstration, in front of the Japanese Embassy. Then in 1993, Kim Bok-dong attended and testified at the “World Human Rights Conference” in Vienna, Austria. She has since testified during other events in Japan and the United States. Kim Bok-dong has traveled around other parts of the world to tell her story and continues to participate in weekly protests. In an interview, Kim Bok-dong states, “by presenting my testimony, I regain my sense of self and feel supported and connected with other women.”[8] Networking and connecting with other women has allowed her to recognize that there are many people who suffered like she did and given her a sense of community, that she is not alone; nor are they. Kim Bok-dong has been attending the Wednesday rallies to demand a formal apology from Japan and legal reparations from the Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery during the war, for more than 20 years now. Kim Bok-dong acknowledges and recognizes that she has gained a platform where she is able to receive support from both ordinary people and the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (KCWD). She emphasizes to her supporters and the public at large that they should do the right thing not just for her but for those without a voice, who have gone through similar struggles she has faced as well as for the next generation.[8]