Last week, two South Korean women who were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers during World War II died. They were two of hundreds of thousands of girls and young women who were systematically raped in front-line brothels under the pretext of providing "comfort" to Japanese troops.

Their stories, tragic and uncomfortable, are the theme of the War and Women's Human Rights Museum in western Seoul, which opened about four years ago to reflect and provide education on that unforgettable past.

Historians estimate that more than 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were coerced into sexual servitude at "comfort stations"

across Asia. The Korean Peninsula, which was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910-45, was brutally victimized.

The museum tour begins as you push open a heavy gray door to the sound of gunfire and marching troops. Transport yourself to the thick of the war as you step outside onto a narrow gravel path lined by two concrete walls -- one side, a silhouetted image of a row of girls apparently being dragged to their yet unknown fates, and the other, a grim display of protruding faces and handprints of some of the victims in their later years. Though the eyes and mouths are shut, the expressions, wrinkles and outstretched fingers seem to cry out for release -- both from the painful memories and the scarred bodies.

Down a flight of stairs, another gray door opens up to a dark room in the basement, where visitors meet an onscreen victim.

"I was standing at a station, and they took me away," says Hong Kang-lim, in a filmed interview. "My older brother started to cry.

They made me sell myself. I didn't get paid. You know how the Japanese beat people. If I didn't sell myself properly, they beat me."

Choking up, she adds, "I have all kinds of illnesses." She takes a drag from her cigarette.

According to that day's admission ticket, Hong was born in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, in 1922. After being taken to China in 1938, she was subjected to sexual slavery in various cities across the country until the end of the war. Even then, she was unable to return home and later died in China.

Although 238 former sex slaves registered with the government following the first public testimony in 1991, many others remained silent for fear of social discrimination and shame.

The museum's admission tickets are printed with the photos and stories of different "comfort women," whom visitors then get to meet through videos.

From the basement, a flight of stairs leads up to the first and second floors. Mounted on the stairway walls are photos and quotes of the victims, some in English, others in Korean and some in Japanese.

"How bitter a life I shall live. Bring my youth back!" reads one message.

"If I remembered all of it, I probably wouldn't be able to live," says another.

The higher up you go, out of the darkness and into the light streaming in through the glass ceiling above, the messages become brighter too.

"I want to become hope for the women who are suffering from the same pain as mine," says one.

"Our children must live in a peaceful world," reads another.

Stepping onto the second floor, visitors are guided to an exhibition of documents and artifacts dating back to the times the comfort stations were in operation.

Among them are entrance tickets to a comfort station, a condom named "Assault No. 1" and a diary in which a Japanese soldier describes his experience of going to a comfort station with his friends.

A large painting helps visitors visualize what a comfort station looked like, with cubicles for the sex slaves; rows of soldiers standing outside each door, waiting for their turn; and a row of girls waiting on one side to undergo a checkup for venereal diseases.

"According to Japanese military documents, there was an order to mobilize one woman for every 100 soldiers," said Yoon Mee-hyang, co-chief of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. "One person couldn't handle 100, so among the dealers, it became 29:1."

On the painting is a table dividing soldiers by rank -- privates got between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to use the comfort stations for 30 minutes at a time; noncommissioned officers from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., also for half an hour; and officers between 7 p.m. and midnight for an hour of "entertainment time."

The issue of the comfort women has long been a thorn in relations between South Korea and Japan, with Seoul demanding an official apology, acknowledgment of responsibility and reparations for the victims.

The two sides struck a deal in December to resolve the dispute once and for all if Tokyo meets all demands.

Both sides hailed the agreement as a landmark deal, but some victims and their supporters have since demanded it be scrapped, arguing Tokyo did not take legal responsibility for the crime.

Yoon said that the campaign will continue, especially as the Japanese government has already damaged the deal by again denying the forced nature of the sex slaves' mobilization.

At the end of the tour, entering the first floor of the museum, a song plays in the background as if to soothe the souls of those already gone and offer hope to those still living. Only 44 known survivors remain.

"Everything's gonna be alright. Everything's gonna be alright." (Yonhap)