An elderly South Korean woman who was forced into sexual servitude by Japan's military during World War II died on Thursday, a civic group said. She was 80.

Kim Oi-hwan died of a chronic illness at a hospital in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, southeast of Seoul, according to the House of Sharing, a shelter for the female victims.

Kim's death lowered the number of known surviving Korean victims of Japanese sex slavery to 51. (Yonhap)