WWII sex slaver victim dies at 90

An victim of Japan`s World War II sex slavery died Thursday night of natural causes at age 90 at a nursing home in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Proince , reducing the number of surviving victims to 50.

Kim Dal-seon was born in 1925 as the second of six sibling and the first of three girls in Pohang. In 1943, She was dragged away by Japanese police at 18 while selling fish at a market with her mother, before being sent to one of the frontline brothels in Myanmar for the Japanese military.

After suffering from all kinds of hardships, she returned to Korea`s southern port city of Busan after Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces. She had to stay in Busan for two years because she was too sick to make her way back to Pohang. Kim, who lost two of her brothers during the 1950-1953 Korean War, had lived in poverty, selling fish and vegetables at marketplaces, until she was registered as a sex slavery victim in 1996 at the recommendation by people around her.

She used to say frequently that she had wanted to get Japan`s apology before she died, according people close to her. Her mortuary is set up at a funeral facility in Pohang. Her coffin will be borne out on Saturday.

jang@donga.com