European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 16, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday january 16, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 9 Comfort girl stories stun japanese former soldiers confess on Busy hot line Tokyo apr former soldiers Are flooding a Telephone hot line with confessions civic groups Are rallying for official contrition and a Comfort girls a a once forgotten phrase is front Page news. On the eve of prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa a visit to Seoul South Korea reminders were everywhere wednesday of an embarrassing fact Tokyo had denied for decades a that during the War its government provided sex slaves for japanese soldiers. A what we Are seeing is the dark Side of Japan a military revealed a said Keiko Yasuhara who represents a group that has set up a Comfort girl hot line to gather information from former soldiers. Yasuhara said More than 100 former Imperial soldiers have called in to Tell their stories Over the past two Days. A we have been overwhelmed by the reaction a she said adding that organizers Hope to use information gleaned from the callers As evidence in a lawsuit filed last month in Tokyo by several former korean Comfort girls charging the government with a crimes against  in addition to koreans chinese and japanese women were forced into the sexual service. According to one hot line caller japanese women were often reserved for officers Yasuhara said. The hot line follows government acknowledgement monday that the military sanctioned and funded the use of Comfort girls by its troops. Tokyo was forced into that admission by the revelation of documents found in a defense Agency Archive last week. Korean historians say from 70,000 to 200,000 teenagers and Young women were forced to serve in a corps that provided sex for japanese troops in China and Southeast Asia. About 90 percent of the sex corps members were korean historians say. Daily demonstrations have been held in Seoul since the news of the documents was reported Over the weekend. Several groups held rallies in Tokyo on tuesday. The timing of the revelations  have been worse for Miyazawa who is leaving today for Seoul on his first overseas trip since assuming office two months ago. Visits to South Korea where wartime hostilities toward Japan measure strongly in Public sentiment Are never easy for japanese leaders. In addition Miyazawa is already on shaky ground for a series of political failures at Home. Two major newspapers wednesday devoted editorials to the trip calling on Miyazawa to apologize and urging the government to conduct a serious investigation. A the stance of the japanese government is too passive a said the nationally circulated Manichi. A the Comfort girls Are getting old. The government should conduct a prompt and thorough  sex slave says Shell never forgive Japan by Paul Shin the associated press Seoul South Korea a Kim Hak Sun wiping tears from her wrinkled Cheeks says she will never forgive Japan. She was one of thousands of korean women used As sex slaves for japanese soldiers during world War ii. As a teen Ager Kim was taken to an army Camp in Manchuria where she says she and four other korean women were forced to have sex with More than 300 japanese soldiers Day and night. A we were no More than sex animals a said the 67-year-old woman who lives in a Shantytown in Seoul. A we Felt like a Public lavatory and nothing More than a tool for japanese  the sordid Story of Kim and other korean a Comfort girls received renewed attention on the eve of japanese prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa a arrival today for a three Day state visit. Koreans have staged daily protests de manding Miyazawa officially apologize the Issue was largely ignored by Japan for brutalities during japanese colonial and Korea until three victims including Rule of Korea that lasted from 1910 until Kim filed suit in Tokyo late last year the wars end in 1945. Tokyo has said he seeking damages will apologize. The suit is pending. Victims associations also want com Kim was born in Jilin China in 1924 apology is better than no apology but i Don t think they Are really repenting sensation for the Comfort girls. Korean historians say Between 70,000 and 200,000 teen agers and Young women were forced to serve in Teishi Tai a corps that provided sexual services for front line japanese troops in China and Southeast Asia during the  Haksun but raised in what is now North Korea. When she was 16, she returned to China to work and it was in Beijing in 1941 where she was grabbed off the Street by japanese soldiers she said. Then 17, she was sent to Manchuria and forced to have sex with hundreds of japanese soldiers a at their whim. A they did that until we became unconscious a she said coughing constantly from asthma. The girls moved with the unit along the chinese front line. After four months Kim said she escaped later married a korean Man in China and returned to Seoul in 1945. Her husband and two children died during the 1950-53 korean War. A the Only reason i decided to testify in Public is because of the constant japanese denial that they were not involved a Kim said. A the japanese arc More cruel and cunning than the  on monday Japan acknowledged for the first time that its Imperial army was involved in the abduction of korean Comfort girls and said Miyazawa would Issue an apology at talks with president Roh Tae woo in Seoul. A apology is better than no apology but i done to think they Are really repenting a Kim said. A was far As the past is concerned their deeds did not conform with their  for radiation Cheryl Malich a Portland general electric radiation technician prepares Aksana Kanosh Naya of Kiev Ukraine for a radiation test monday at the Trojan nuclear Plant in Rainier Wash. Aksana was one of 40 children being checked for radiation effects from the 1986 chernobyl nuclear Accident. 12 charged in August attempt to seize Power in soviet Union Moscow apr prosecutors have charged 12 former High soviet officials with conspiring to seize Power in the failed coup that quickened the demise of the soviet Union. The hard line officials a including the one time prime minister defense minister and Kab chief a could face 10 to 15 years in prison or a firing squad for their part in the August coup officials said. No Date has been set for the trial. The suspects seven of whom formed an emergency committee that claimed to have taken Power from an ailing Mikhail s. Gorbachev have already challenged the fairness of the proceedings. Through their attorneys they have said senior politicians and the Media have distorted the facts against them. R. Prosecutors earlier decided not to charge the suspects with a High  the prosecutors reasoned that the state they allegedly tried to betray a the soviet Union a has ceased to exist anyway. Tuesdays charges culminated a four month inquiry in which thousands of people were interviewed and 125 volumes of evidence compiled the Tass news Agency said. In the process prosecutors scrutinized the Kab the armed forces communist party and other institutions. Now that the charges Are filed the suspects and their attorneys Are allowed an unspecified amount of time to examine the material and produce new evidence in their defense. If the defense response fails to persuade the prosecutor to lift the charges the cases go to court. Among the former soviet officials charged Are Kab chief Vladimir Kryuchkov prime minister Valentin Pavlov defense minister Dmitri Yazoo vice president Gennady Kanayev Security Council official Oleg Baklanov Alexander Tiz Yakov head of the state Enterprise association and Vasily Starodub Sci the peasants Union Leader. All helped found the eight member emergency committee. The eighth committee member former soviet Interior minister Boris Pugo killed himself when the coup fell through. Other suspects identified by Tass Are supreme soviet chairman Anatoly Lukyanov Oleg Shinin a politburo member army commander Valentin Varen Nikov Kab guard chief Yuri Plekhanov and Vyacheslav Generalow who was Plekhanov a Deputy. Two other officials under investigation were not charged because they have been transferred to hospitals for health reasons. They Are Gen. Viktor Grushko and Valery Boldin Gorbachev a former chief of staff. Yevgeny Lisov Deputy prosecutor general of the russian federation headed the investigation. He was quoted tuesday in the newspaper Izvestia As saying that Gorbachev could become a witness in the Case but that there was no evidence to accuse him of coup involvement. A there is not a hint in his conduct of Gorbachev a support of the anti constitutional ambitions of the plotters a Lisov said although he added that the plotters May have believed that Gorbachev would support them because of his a Long relations with them. Lisov hinted that Gorbachev might fall suspect in other investigations concerning communist party finances and the Kab. A i will not comment How Gorbachev a stands in these cases now a he said