Seoul ( CNN ) -- Waiting more than 60 years for an official apology has taken its toll on Kim Bok-dong . The 87-year old says she is tired and her health is failing but she continues to fight for recognition from the Japanese government for being used as a sex slave by their military during World War II . There were believed to be around 200,000 so-called `` comfort women , '' mostly Korean . Many have since passed away , but those still alive want individual compensation for their treatment . `` When I started , the Japanese military would often beat me because I was n't submissive , '' Kim says . 'Comfort women ' mark 1,000th rally . `` Every Sunday , soldiers came to the brothel from 8am until 5pm , on Saturday from noon until 5pm , plus weekdays . It was very hard to handle . I could n't stand at the end of the weekend . Since I had to deal with too many soldiers , I was physically broken . '' Kim has tears in her eyes as she talks of her ordeal -- an ordeal that lasted every single day for eight years . Kim describes being moved around half a dozen Asian countries from the age of 14 . `` I was born as a woman but have never had a woman 's life . I was dragged to the foreign army 's battles , and my entire life was ruined . '' Kim 's first marriage broke down when she could n't have children , which she assumes due to her mistreatment . When her second husband and her mother died , she had to work in the fields to earn a living . Kim is part of an NGO called the `` Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan , '' which is fighting for an apology . A weekly protest has been held outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul for the past 20 years . The embassy keeps its blinds shut during the protests and does not comment . Some Japanese prime ministers have personally apologized in the past , but the NGO director believes that it 's not nearly enough . `` Anyone can verbally apologize . But this is not an issue that can be resolved by saying sorry , '' says Yoon Mee-Hyang . `` This is a crime that was institutionalized by a country , they forced women into sexual slavery over a long period of time . They need to adopt a resolution at the official level and we need to see legal reparations . '' Yoon is planning to travel to Japan to meet with government officials . Tokyo maintains its legal liability for the wrongdoing was cleared by a bilateral claims treaty signed in 1965 between the two countries . The South Korean government has stepped up diplomatic pressure recently , but only after a Korean court ruled in August that it was unconstitutional for the government not to help . Attempts by President Lee Myung-bak to discuss the issue with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda have so far yielded no results . The issue of comfort women continues to haunt relations between the two countries . But for the few comfort women still alive -- only 63 are now registered in South Korea -- it 's an urgent issue that they ca n't afford to wait for .
About 200,000 `` comfort women '' were believed to have been forced into sexual slavery . The Japanese government has never acknowledged the existence of any such camps or their victims. Tokyo maintains its legal liability for the wrongdoing was cleared by a treaty signed in 1965 .