TESTIMONY OF SEXUAL SLAVERY VICTIM

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The late victim of Japan's wartime sex slavery and human rights activist Kim Bok-dong dedicated her life to restoring the honor and rights of former sex slaves of imperialist Japan. Her first audio testimony of the suffering she had to endure has been disclosed through a documentary film. Here's more

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In 1940, 14-year-old Kim Bok-dong was forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese.

[Soundbite] LATE KIM BOK-DONG(FMR. SEX SLAVE OF JAPANESE MILITARY) : "They said it was a factory producing military uniforms. We thought it was a factory."

When she arrived at what she was told was a factory, the nightmare began.

[Soundbite] LATE KIM BOK-DONG(FMR. SEX SLAVE OF JAPANESE MILITARY) : "The soldiers examined my body. It made me very nervous. I never took off my clothes before others. I resisted, but they pushed me to comply by threatening me. They didn't give me any food and beat me because I disobeyed. Then they confined me."

This is Kim's first recorded testimony that she gave five months before testifying publicly at the Asian Women's Solidarity Forum on Military Sexual Slavery by Japan in 1992.

[Soundbite] YOON MI-HYANG(KOREAN COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE AND REMEMBRANCE FOR ISSUES OF MILITARY SEXUAL SLAVERY BY JAPAN) : "She sounds nervous, because it was her first testimony. What really surprised me is that everybody was opposed to her testifying in public."

Kim's testimony inspired many other victims of Japanese wartime sex slavery to come forward, including those in the Philippines and Taiwan. The audio file of Kim's recorded testimony played a crucial role in promoting a documentary film about her life. The target amount of 10 million won for the film's premiere was raised in just two days, and actress Han Ji-min did the narration. All proceeds from the film's screening will be used to establish a center named after late Kim Bok-dong to help the victims of sexual violence in Uganda.