[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 26 (Monday, February 12, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E322]]
                        TRIBUTE TO YONG-SOO LEE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL M. HONDA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 12, 2007

  Mr. HONDA. Madam Speaker, I rise today in tribute to Yong-Soo Lee, a 
South Korean woman who, decades after enduring torture and abuse by the 
Japanese Imperial Army, has taken it upon herself to stand up for human 
rights and the dignity of all by telling her personal story and 
demanding that the Government of Japan acknowledge and apologize for 
its role in the ``comfort women'' system of World War II.
  Yong-Soo Lee is one of over 200,000 ``comfort women'' in Asia who 
suffered unimaginable dehumanization by the Japanese Imperial Army 
during Japan's colonial and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific 
Islands from the 1930s through the duration of World War II.
  These women--who came from China, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, 
and elsewhere--suffered experiences which were unprecedented in cruelty 
and were officially commissioned by the Government of Japan. They 
endured gang rape, forced abortions, humiliation, and sexual violence 
resulting in mutilation, death, or eventual suicide--and to this date, 
they have still not received justice from this tragedy.
  The hope of Yong-Soo Lee and her sisters is a modest one: Simply 
stated, that the government of Japan acknowledges, apologizes for, and 
accepts full historical responsibility for these atrocities.
  Yong-Soo Lee has a poignant story to tell. At 16, she was taken far 
from her home in Korea to an outpost on Taiwan, where she and her 
schoolmates, among others, were forced to provide sexual services to 
Japanese soldiers and airmen in the waning days of World War II. She 
suffered seasickness, sleeplessness, hunger, venereal disease, and 
bodily harm.
  When she was able to return home after the war, the pain and shame 
were so much that she was never able to marry, which caused conflict 
and ostracization within her family.
  Still, she went on with her life, and in 1992 began to unburden 
herself of her memories. Working with the Korean Council for the Women 
Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, she came forward with her 
story--which she had kept secret from her family for almost five 
decades--in order that other women will not have to endure the same 
sort of suffering.
  Madam Speaker, on February 15, the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, 
and the Global Environment of the Committee on Foreign Affairs will 
convene a hearing entitled ``Protecting the Human Rights of Comfort 
Women.'' Yong-Soo Lee has been invited to share her story with members 
of the subcommittee along with other surviving comfort women who want 
to see justice prevail.
  On January 31, I, along with several of my colleagues, introduced H. 
Res. 121, which expresses ``the sense of the House of Representatives 
that the Government of Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize, 
and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner 
for its Imperial Armed Force's coercion of young women into sexual 
slavery, known to the world as ``comfort women'' during its colonial 
and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 1930s 
through the duration of World War II.''
  We appreciate the dedication of women like Yong-Soo Lee, who are 
traveling thousands of miles to be with us in Washington, to help us 
better understand their personal experiences and to help us formulate 
appropriate policy responses to both historical events and their modem 
equivalents. They stand as beacons of inspiration to us as we combat 
human rights violations and seek to extirpate war crimes wherever they 
might occur. By telling their stories, Yong-Soo Lee and her fellow 
comfort women provide the foundation for the protection of the rights 
of women throughout the world.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in tribute to Yong-Soo 
Lee and the thousands of surviving comfort women.

                          ____________________