On Reflection | Why Korea’s ‘comfort women’ must be remembered
Memorials to those forced into sex slavery during the second world war are not about disgracing Japan, but symbols acknowledging sufferings that must never be forgotten
Last week the diplomatic row between South Korea and Japan escalated when a statue commemorating “comfort women” – sex slaves forced by Japan to work in military brothels during the second world war – was installed outside the Japanese consulate in Busan.
Japan responded by recalling its ambassador to Seoul and consul general to Busan, and suspending discussions on a bilateral currency swap agreement with South Korea.
The diplomatic crisis is not simply a reopened historical rift between two countries with a traumatic past. It reveals a current struggle between individual human rights and state politics.
WATCH: Japan to recall its South Korea envoy over ‘comfort women’ statue
The Busan statue was dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of girls and women who were detained in the Japanese military “comfort stations” as sex slaves during Japan’s aggression in Asia (1931-1945). It’s not the first time such a statue has triggered a problem in Korean-Japanese relations. In fact, it is a copy of a similar statue that was erected in 2011 near the Japanese embassy in Seoul by citizen groups.
The statue marks the site where former Korean “comfort women” and their supporters have rallied every Wednesday since 1992 – it was built to mark the 1,000th rally demanding Japan take responsibility.
The Peace Monument, as the statue in Seoul is known, remains to this day and has inspired the construction of similar statues around the world – the Busan one included.
