A South Korean victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery staged a rally in Washington on Wednesday to demand Tokyo's apology and reparations.
  

Kim Bok-dong, an 89-year-old 'comfort woman,' joined a group of South Korean activists and supporters at the event held in front of the Japanese Embassy.
  

She is among the 49 surviving victims in South Korea of Japan's atrocity during World War II. More than 200,000 Korean and other Asian women were coerced into sexual servitude for Japanese troops at that time, according to historians. The victims are euphemistically dubbed "comfort women."
  

"I can't even die without receiving an apology from the Japanese government," Kim said. "Japan should not just sit back like that after having deceived young women to serve as slaves."
  

She urged the Shinzo Abe administration to come clean on the matter.
  

The demonstration was 1,185th of its kind, organized by a Seoul-based civic group that calls itself the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan.
  

Every Wednesday, a handful of elderly Korean comfort women and supporters gather across the street from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to voice their protest against Japan's lukewarm attitude on the issue.
  

It was the first time that a comfort woman held such a rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Washington. It was co-organized by the Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues. 
    

Japan claims that all legal responsibilities for its 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea were settled in a 1965 pact to normalize its relations with South Korea.
  

South Koreans, however, believe the Japanese administration has yet to offer a sincere apology and appropriate compensation for the victims.
  

"We have to make efforts, along with the international community, for the punishment and implementation of legal responsibility for the crime, an issue that was not resolved 70 years ago," Yoon Mi-hyang, head of the Korean Council, said in the Washington rally.
  

The protesters also entered the embassy and held a protest rally. Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae refused to meet them in person.
  

Korean activists in California plan to organize similar demonstrations in other major U.S. cities where Japan's consular offices are located. (Yonhap)