Korean residents in the United States staged a rally in downtown Washington Monday, protesting the U.S. government's support of Japan's denial of criminal charges brought against it by Asian comfort women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese army prior to and during World War II.
The rally lasted about an hour from noon Monday in front of the office building of the U.S. State Department by members of Korean youth corps in America who were joined by supporters from the National Organization for Women (NOW), a U.S. civic group.
They harshly criticized Washington for disregarding the suffering of the former Asian comfort women, while demanding the withdrawal of the State Department's written request to the U.S. Federal Court's Washington branch for dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a group of former comfort women.