The Apology reveals some uncomfortable truths

SHAME and Asian culture’s obsession with this notion runs deep in societies past and present – from the Indian subcontinent to the Korean peninsula and Japan in the far east.

Kyo Choi’s The Apology draws upon the real-life trauma endured by Korean “comfort women” during the Second World War. They were sex slaves whose lives were wrecked by the brutal sexual assaults carried out by Japanese and American troops at “comfort stations”, where the lines of women were as long as those of passengers in a train station.

Years after the war ended in 1945, the women stayed silent, afraid to speak up or reveal their real selves in public. Some shunned or were shunned by their families for fear of bringing shame upon their loved ones.

Almost five decades later, a Sri Lankan lawyer Priyanka Silva (Sharan Phull) specialising in human rights is assigned to compile a report for the UN from Seoul on these “comfort women”.

The Apology tells the story of Kim Sun-Hee (Sarah Lam) who needs little persuasion to reveal the atrocities she and several other women and young girls were subjected to.

In the Arcola’s intimate setting, audience members sit close to the spartan stage, covered in A4 sheets documenting the women’s accounts and cannot escape the brutalities inflicted on the “comfort women” and the devastating repercussions on the families they left behind.

Silva’s determination to dig deep into Sun-Hee’s story and bring it to the attention of wider world is hampered by a meddlesome American bureaucrat, Jock Taylor (played to annoying perfection by Ross Armstrong).

Ria Parry’s direction of the father-daughter duo of Han Yuna (Minhee Yeo) and Han Min (Kwong Loke) depicts the fragile and complicated relationships that families are built on.

A new world order emerged after the end of the war in 1945, but thousands of women bore scars for life, with no reparation or even an apology for their suffering. Governments and Allies involved took no responsibility for the action of their soldiers.

Shown through the experience of one family, Choi’s script does justice to a shameful chapter in world history that risks being forgotten. Caught between a culture that prioritises shame over accountability and with governments intent on protecting national interests, the saga of the “comfort women” is a scar on our collective conscience.

The Apology does not shy away from exposing some uncomfortable truths.

■ The Apology is on at the Arcola until next Saturday (8)