University students in South Korea have built a statue to commemorate women forced into sexual servitude during World War II. The unveiling ceremony was attended by former victims who supported the student’s efforts in memorializing the Japanese atrocities of using South Korean “comfort women” more than 70 years ago.

CCTV’s U-Jean Jung reported this story from Seoul.

A statue resembling a young South Korean girl forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II was unveiled in Seoul on Christmas Eve.

At five-feet-two-inches tall, or 1.6 meters, the bronze statue is the first of its kind to be funded solely by university students in the country.

“This is meaningful because university students made it from start to finish. Since March this year, around 2,000 university students worked together to erect this statue,” Kim Sam of Sookmyung Women’s University said.

Three of the so-called “comfort women” at the ceremony were overwhelmed with emotion.

“We were trampled down upon by Japanese soldiers as their slaves because we were born in the wrong era in a powerless country. But we hope all of you study hard to become great people and protect our country,” said Kim Bok-Dong.

The statue stands just outside the main gates of Ewha Woman’s University. Of the more than 230 South Koreans registered themselves as victims to sexual slavery by the Japanese Army, only 54 are alive today.

Many continue to hold peaceful protests outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul every Wednesday, demanding an apology. Japan has said that the issue has already been resolved.