South Korean activists demand action from Japan on sex slavery

The 3A Project, an international push to demand accountability and help from the Japanese administration for the use of sex slaves during World War II, has reached El Paso, with bikers from the 3A Project making a stop Monday in the Sun City.

Women have testified that the Japanese military captured them and others during World War II and used them as sex slaves, calling them “comfort women.”

According to the 3A Project’s website, the three As in the group’s name stand for “admit, apologize and accompany.” The group wants the current Japanese administration led by newly re-elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to admit responsibility for the system of sexual slavery in the years around World War II, apologize to the women who were forced into sexual slavery, and to make sure the survivors are not alone in their struggle to have their voices heard.

Taewoo Kim, one of the three South Korean bicyclists participating in the awareness campaign, said the group’s stop in El Paso should have international ramifications.

“El Paso is the city between Mexico and the U.S., so if we raise the awareness of the comfort women issue in El Paso, we think that can affect not only the U.S. but also the Mexican people,” Kim told ABC-7 during a news conference in San Jacinto Plaza downtown.

The group’s journey began June 19 in Los Angeles, and the goal is to make it to New York by September.

The group also plans to stop in Dallas, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

See the 3A Project Facebook page and website.