Another voice lost, Korean 'comfort woman' dies By Ashley Fantz and Paul Armstrong, CNN January 26, 2014 -- Updated 1806 GMT (0206 HKT) Hwang Kum-jum died in South Korea, one of the dwindling number of "comfort women" Japan forced 200,000 women into sex slavery to service WWII Japanese soldiers Japan has formally apologized for atrocities against "comfort women" (CNN) -- Another voice that could have told about the horrors of being a "comfort woman" -- a sex slave used by Japanese soldiers during World War II -- has fallen silent, Yonhap news agency reported Sunday. Hwang Kum-jum, 90, died of natural causes at a hospital in Seoul, South Korea. Japan forced about 200,000 women into sex slavery, luring them to "comfort stations" set up throughout East Asia by the Japanese military from 1932 until the end of the war, according to nonprofit advocacy group Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues. Mostly Korean, the women were lied to and told they would get jobs if they went to the brothels, the center says. CNN has widely reported on the stories of the women. Many have said they were kidnapped. For resisting sex, some say, they were raped and beaten. Read: Forgotten faces - Japan's 'comfort women' Hwang Kum-jum was forced to work at a glass factory at 13 and then sent to China to work as a sex slave at 16, Yonhap reported. After Korea was freed from Japanese occupation in 1945, she went home and lived the rest of her life alone, the agency said. She worked as a garbage collector, but didn't make enough, so she had to rely on government subsidies. It's unclear how, but she was able to make three donations to a scholarship fund totaling more than $92,000, which helped earn her an award for her generosity in 2011 in Korea, Yonhap said. Hwang's dying wish was that all her assets be donated to charity. Japan's government has formally apologized on numerous occasions for the atrocities against comfort women. The country helped establish the Asian Women's Fund in 1995, which is supported by government funds and provides assistance to former comfort women. But Japan has resisted direct payments to the victims, prompting activists and former comfort women to say leaders are avoiding officially acknowledging what happened. In 2013, the mayor of Osaka, Japan, stirred fierce controversy when he told reporters that "anyone would understand" the role of "comfort women" when soldiers were risking their lives and deserved a "rest." Toru Hashimoto said the use of the women was "necessary." Though he acknowledged the issue was a "tragic result of war," Hashimoto insisted that soldiers using the women wasn't unique to Japan. Hashimoto also revealed that he told a U.S. military commander during a trip to a base on the island of Okinawa that U.S. personnel should "utilize more" the adult entertainment business in Japan. South Korea has urged Japan to resolve the issue directly with victims, noting that time is running out because most of them are elderly and dying. Yonhap said that Hwang's death brings the total number of living victims of the comfort women sex slavery circuit in South Korea down to 55. Read: 60 years later, pain still fresh for 'comfort women' January 26, 2014 -- Updated 1556 GMT (2356 HKT)