Desperate Appeal

[Anchor Lead]

An elderly victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery Gil Won-ok has delivered a handwritten letter to the court. She asked the government to disclose negotiation documents related to the controversial 2015 agreement, signed by Korea and Japan to resolve the sexual slavery issue.

[Pkg]

"I am 92 years old now. I want the truth to come to light before I die. I ask the government to inform the Korean people on whether Japan has acknowledged its forced recruitment of women to serve Japanese troops during wartime, which is the truth behind this whole issue." Gil Won-ok, a victim of Tokyo's wartime sex slavery, submitted a handwritten letter to the Seoul High Court on March 7th. It was delivered through a support organization. In the letter, she urges the government to disclose the document showing negotiations held with Japan at the time when the controversial 2015 agreement between Seoul and Tokyo was signed. She wants to know if Japan had acknowledged its military forced foreign women to serve in brothels. A second trial is currently pending in court regarding this very issue of whether Seoul's Foreign Ministry should unveil the negotiation papers. In 2017 when the first trial was held, 40 South Korean victims were alive. But now after two years, there are only 22 of them.

[Soundbite] Song Gi-ho(Lawyer defending plaintiff) : "This is more than just a regular diplomatic document as it is directly linked to damage redemption for the victims whose human dignity was violated."

Gil who wrote the latest letter filed an information disclosure request with the foreign ministry in July 2017, together with another victim, Kim Bok-dong who recently passed away. The request was not accepted at the time. With the letter penned on March fifth, she expressed her resolve once again to win the trial and do the best she can as long as her health permits, to reveal the truth. Sentencing of the second trial is scheduled for April 18th.