Since three Korean women came out in 1991 and demanded government compensation for being forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers, many former "comfort women" have died in despair, receiving no compensation, never seeing their rapists brought to justice and having suffered the further humiliation of being branded liars by so-called intellectuals.
In 1993, the government admitted the Imperial army "coerced" the women into sexual servitude and offered an apology to them in a remark by then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono.
The government and the nation's courts, however, have dismissed compensation claims on grounds that international treaties do not allow individuals to demand redress from the state.