Kang Duk-Kyung
South Korea, (1929–1997)
Kang Duk-Kyung was a human rights activist sharing her experiences as a former Korean comfort woman in the Japanese colonial era during World War II. In particular, Kang expressed her life as a comfort woman through paintings. Some of her well known artworks include “Innocence Stolen,” “Apologize,” and “Punish the Perpetrators.” Kang’s art offers another way for people to experience and learn about the damages inflicted to victims in comfort stations.
Kang was also one of the movement’s most outspoken participants, testifying at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and at an assembly in Japan. Her passion and commitment to spreading awareness prevailed even over her declining health with stage four lung cancer. She participated in the Wednesday Demonstration whenever she recovered; in 1996, in the later stage of her cancer battle, Kang Duk-Kyung attended the Wednesday demonstration in a hospital ambulance.
“I thought that my life as a 'comfort woman' was over with Korean Liberation on August 15th, 1945. But it is not. I would finally say that it is over when I receive proper reparation and see the perpetrators being punished with my own eyes.”
Legacy
Despite her passing in 1997 from lung cancer, Kang’s artworks remain, and are still exhibited around the world, continuing the message of the “comfort women” injustices.