'Comfort woman', 87, demands apology from Japan over wartime slavery

Korean Lee Yong-soo was forced into sexual slavery serving Japan's imperial army. Seventy years later, with Japan's prime minister preparing a historic address to US Congress next week, she demands just one thing: an apology.

"I'm not going to die until we resolve this issue," the diminutive 87-year-old told reporters in the US Capitol.

"I am an honorable daughter of Korea, I am not a comfort woman," said Lee, her voice cracking.

Lee testified to Congress in 2007 about her traumatic experience as one of the thousands of "comfort women" victims forced into Japanese military brothels during the second world war.

But with nationalist-leaning Shinzo Abe scheduled next Wednesday to become Japan's first prime minister to address a joint meeting of Congress, protest groups are demanding he seek broader atonement for crimes of the past.

"The House chamber is a sacred ground in American history," said Jungsil Lee, president of the Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues (WCCW).