South Korea released the first known video clip of "comfort women", who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.
The said film footage was found by a government-funded researchers at Seoul National University in the United States' archives.
The 18-second video clip shows several women lining up and talking to Chinese soldiers. According to the researchers, South Korean activists estimate that 200,000 women were forced into brothers for the military of Japan. The women are believed to have been mainly from China, Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines.
BBC reported that until now, the only records of women being sexually abused by the Japanese military during the World War II had been survivor testimonials and photographs.
The research team also stated that the video was filmed by joint US-Chinese troops in China's province in Yunnan, which was previously occupied by Japan.
This issue about slave women has long strained South Korea and Japan's relationship over lack of compensation and adequate apology from Japan. It was noted by an article in BBC News that the "comfort women" issue was one of the main debates in Japan. They are arguing whether they should be called sex slaves, as these women reportedly chose to work for the Japanese army lured by massive salaries.
In 2015, South Korea and Japan reached an agreement whereby Tokyo formally agreed to apologize and compensate $8.3m to fund the victims of the historical issue. However, many Koreans viewed the apology as lacking as the issue continues to plague the ties between the two countries.
In January, Japan reportedly temporarily withdrew its ambassador to South Korea over a "comfort women" statue placed outside the Japanese consulate in Busan. A similar statue has also been placed outside Japan's consulate in Seoul. Tokyo reportedly want to have these statues removed.
