[News Today] PRESERVING THE HOUSE OF SHARING

[LEAD]
For over three decades, the House of Sharing has served as a refuge for women that became victims of "comfort women" by the Japanese military. Now, most of them passed away and the last three of them moved to a hospital due to advanced age. The facility, which was built by people's donation faces closure. Plans are underway to transform it into a museum. Here's more.

[REPORT]
The House of Sharing, a shelter for victims of wartime sex slavery that faced financial difficulty, opened in 1991 with the money raised by the Buddhism sector and people from all walks of life.

For roughly thirty years, the shelter was living proof of wartime atrocity and its aftereffects.

The fundraiser helped Moon Myeong-geum, a survivor of the atrocity to return to Korea for the first time in 64 years.

Late Moon Myeong-geum/ On KBS ‘News 9’ (Feb. 1999)
This is so nice. I keep tearing up because I'm so happy.

U.S. Congressman Michael Honda, who steered the resolution on the comfort women issue through the House of Representatives, even visited the shelter.

Michael Honda/ Former U.S. House of Rep. (Nov. 2007, KBS ‘News 9’)

The shelter experienced plenty of ups and downs through its long history.

A whistleblower claimed that donations were not being used for the ladies.

Kim Dae-wol / The House of Sharing (May 2020, On KBS ‘News 9’)
The residents were cared for those in a free nursing facility and the donations
were going into the corporate body.

A former director of the House of Sharing who had received subsidies under false pretenses were sentenced to prison at the Supreme Court.

At one time, the House of Sharing was home to 25 victims of wartime sex slavery.

The shelter now stands empty after the three remaining residents with failing health were sent to a convalescent hospital.

The nursing facility is already being closed and a plan is underway to preserve the entire facility, including the living space, and turn it into a museum.

Monk Seonghwa/ CEO, House of Sharing
The historical legacies left by the ladies should be well preserved. Although it's a painful part of our history, it needs to be preserved.

However, an existing social welfare corporate body cannot run a museum. Unless a government agency or a local government takes over museum operation, the house could disappear into history.

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