Civic groups call for UNESCO listing of comfort women documents

SEOUL, September 6 - A coalition of civic groups from eight nations, including South Korea and China, has urged UNESCO to expedite its long-delayed efforts to include documents pertaining to Japan's wartime sexual slavery of women on its Memory of the World Register. In May 2016, these civic groups submitted an official request for the UNESCO listing of "Voices of the Comfort Women," a collection of testimonies and materials documenting the sexual exploitation of mostly Korean women by Japanese troops during World War II.

As the number of surviving comfort women dwindles, with only five remaining in South Korea, six in China, five in the Philippines, around 20 in Indonesia, and one in Timor-Leste, the civic groups remain concerned about the stalled listing process. The International Advisory Committee of UNESCO decided in 2017 to foster dialogue between the coalition and four other groups, representing Japan and the United States, who had separately submitted related records.

However, the initial talks scheduled for June 2025 have been postponed twice, leaving the future of the UNESCO listing in doubt.