This Aug. 14, 2019 photo shows a statue symbolizing "comfort women" in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. (Kyodo)

S. Korea commemorates 'comfort women' memorial day

Harvi
Sports & Culture
History
Aug 14, 2019
2821
SEOUL (Kyodo) -- South Korea on Wednesday observed the country's official "comfort women" memorial day for the second year, with a ceremony held to memorialize Korean women who were forced to work in wartime brothels for the Japanese military.
The country marked the day as its ties with Japan hit their lowest point in years over disputes that stemmed mainly from compensation orders by its top court against Japanese companies over wartime labor.

The South Korean government in 2017 designated Aug. 14 as the Japanese Military Comfort Women Victims Memorial Day, as on the same day in 1991 Kim Hak Soon, a former comfort woman, became the first among surviving victims to give testimony about the hardships the women faced.

The government has used the day to communicate to the international community that the issue of comfort women is also a matter of sexual violence against women during wartime and of women's universal human rights.

This year's ceremony in Seoul was attended by Gender Equality and Family Minister Jin Sun Mee, among other government officials. President Moon Jae In, who attended last year's first official comfort women memorial day, would not be attending, his office said just before the event.

The Seoul municipal government is set to unveil a statue symbolizing the women at a park in Namsan later in the day.

A weekly rally to demand a sincere apology from Japan to former comfort women will also be held near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. The rally would be the 1,400th such protest.

The comfort women issue has for years been a source of tension between South Korea and Japan, which ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1910 until it was defeated in World War II in 1945.

The two countries in 2015 agreed to "finally and irreversibly" settle the protracted bilateral row, with Japan issuing an apology to former comfort women for their sufferings and providing 1 billion yen ($9.5 million) to a foundation meant to help the victims financially.

But the Moon administration, formed after the agreement, said the deal could not settle the issue as it did not reflect the opinions of the surviving victims.

It took procedural steps last month to formally dissolve the foundation, drawing harsh criticism from Tokyo as it was done without Japan's consent.

South Korea will be celebrating Liberation Day on Thursday, commemorating the end of Japanese colonial rule that came with Japan's surrender to the Allied forces on Aug. 15, 1945.

Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190814/p2g/00m/0in/047000c

Korea , MemorialDay , ComfortWoman