A controversial movement to honor Korean women kidnapped and forced into sex slavery by the Japanese military during World War II has stalled in Queens reported the NY Daily News.
A resolution by State Senator Tony Avella failed to advance in the New York State legislature. City Councilman Peter Koo has yet to find a street he can rename and locate a monument for the women.
“There is a dispute about the wording,” Avella said. “This is an extremely important issue. We will get this done.”
The Japanese continue to deny the existence of the comfort women, saying they were willing prostitutes who paid for their services. Historians say up to 200,000 women were kidnapped or lured from Korea, and forced into sex slavery for the Japanese military.
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Most of the survivors are now in their 90’s. Student interns from the Queensborough Community College’s Kupferberg Holocaust Center interviewed several of them.
“We look at this as a hate crime also. We want the world to know about this,”
said the Center’s Executive Director Arthur Flug.
