Resolution Memorializing 'Comfort Women' Wins Senate Approval

A resolution commemorating the suffering endured by "comfort women" in Japanese military camps during WWII received unanimous legislative approval in the state senate on June 20.

Sponsored by Senator Kevin O'Toole (R-40), the bill calls on the Japanese government to acknowledge the conditions an estimated 300,000 women were subjected to.

“Hundreds of thousands of women of Korean and Chinese decent were recruited or kidnapped by soldiers to serve in Japanese military brothels during World War II, and approximately three-quarters of the comfort women have died as a direct result of the brutality inflicted on them during their internment,” O’Toole said in a statement.

“The Japanese government has ordered the destruction of evidence depicting this abuse, and it is fitting for New Jersey, in particular on behalf of its Korean and Chinese residents, to urge the Japanese government to accept responsibility. It is imperative that future generations are educated on this form of slavery so history doesn’t repeat itself.”

A concurrent bill sponsored by Democratic assembly members Connie Wagner and Gordon Johnson was also approved.

The issue of memorializing the women has been hotly debated in Fort Lee in recent months.

Korean-American groups have been lobbying for a memorial to be constructed honoring the women in Freedom Park. Infighting among various groups over the verbiage and design of the proposed memorial has since halted the project.