This first-ever English translation recovers the overlooked and disavowed stories of Korea’s most marginalized women. The first Korean novel devoted to this subject, it rekindled conversations about comfort women as well as the violent legacies of Japanese colonialism. One Left is a provocative, extensively researched novel constructed from the testimonies of dozens of comfort women. It may seem cliché to state that a novel is necessary. Kim Sum (born Kim Sujin, 23 July 1974) is a South Korean writer, best known as the author of One Left (, 2016), a novel dealing with. One Left dignifies its subjects as an authentic memorial that makes an indelible mark on history. Though it is fiction, Kim Sooms novel is steeped in fact. Yet, when she learns that the last known comfort woman is dying, she decides to tell her there will still be “one left” after her passing, and embarks on a painful journey. Soom captures the agonizing legacy of a dark chapter from the recent past. The horrors of her life as a sex slave follow her back to Korea, where she lives in isolation gripped by the fear that her past will be discovered. Kim Soom tells the story of a woman who was kidnapped at the age of thirteen while gathering snails for her starving family. Since then, self-declared comfort women have come forward only to have their testimonies and calls for compensation largely denied by the Japanese government. Barely 10 percent survived to return to Korea, where they lived as social outcasts. The average age of these girls was 16, and some were as young as 12. The Fultons write: During World War II, an estimated 200,000 Korean girls were forced into sexual servitude for the Japanese military.

They lived in horrific conditions in “comfort stations” across Japanese-occupied territories. The following is an excerpt from Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton‘s grant-winning translation of One Left by Korean novelist Sum (Soom) Kim. One Left is her first novel translated into English. During the Pacific War, more than 200,000 Korean girls were forced into sexual servitude for Japanese soldiers. Kim Soom is the prize-winning author of six story collections and nine novels.

One left kim soom