On August 14, 1991, Kim Hak-sun, a South Korean victim, first publicly testified about the atrocities of the Japanese military "comfort women" system — a date that has since become a symbolic day for the international community to commemorate "comfort women" victims.
In 2012, South Korean civic organizations formally launched the initiative to designate August 14 each year as the World "Comfort Women" Memorial Day. In November 2017, the South Korean National Assembly passed an amendment to the Act on Support for Victims of the Japanese Military "Comfort Women," designating August 14 as a statutory national memorial day. Since then, people across China, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia have held commemorative events each year urging the Japanese government to face history and issue a formal apology and compensation.
Every August 14, people commemorate the victims through rallies, exhibitions, and film screenings, calling for "history not to be forgotten and justice to be served."
(Sources: People's Daily Japan Channel 2017-11; Yonhap/KBS public reports; CCTV News 2026-08-14)