Testimonies given by 12 Korean victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery are now available online, courtesy of a Seoul-based governmental institute.

The Northeast Asian History Foundation announced Tuesday the launch of a webpage with the testimonies as part of its ongoing efforts to raise public awareness on the so-called “comfort women,” who were forced to provide sex for front-line Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Titled “Stories Making History,” the section features the detailed life stories of 12 surviving victims told by the women themselves ― powerful accounts of brutal atrocities by the Japanese authorities.

All the records can be viewed in Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese.

Despite the testimonies, Japan denies its involvement in the wartime sexual enslavement, claiming it was voluntary prostitution. Researchers say up to 200,000 girls and women faced the same abuse across Asia, many of them from Korea, then a Japanese colony.

To view the testimonies, visit contents.nahf.or.kr/issue/item.do?itemId=iswj

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)