Kim said that when the musical made its debut in 2015, there were still 29 Korean "comfort women" alive, but unfortunately that number has since decreased to 27. The death of two of the women made Kim feel more obliged to shed light on their stories.
He added that this time, the stage and lightning were more carefully designed, and the focus of the play changed from historical facts to the individual stories of the women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army. "No matter what age we are in, this story, first of all, is a story about humans and humanity."
The musical is played by an all-Asian cast. Besides for Korean actors and actresses, there are also performers from China, Japan and other Asian countries. Yang Shuyan and Shi Shangqiuyun are both young women in their 20s who have recently moved to the US.
Yang, from Shanghai, said that during WWII, the Japanese army built comfort stations in Shanghai and that her high school history textbooks introduced this period very carefully. She said that there are women from other Asian countries who found themselves forced into sexual slavery, so these actors and actresses found it easy to empathize with their characters.
The experience of participating in the production of this musical meant a lot to the team. Yihui Shen, an associate producer of Comfort Women, said, "My participation in this musical made me start to pay more attention to the issue of comfort women."
"I noticed that a movie called Dahan, about 'comfort women', was pulled from cinemas due to unsatisfactory row piece volume," adding, "Sometimes it's painful to pay attention to the issue of 'comfort women' because their lives will disappear and apologies won't bring them back. On the other hand, because of my participation in this musical, I refuse to be indifferent and cold-hearted."
Shen went on to add that there are plans to bring the musical to China in the future.
