hankyoreh

who recently passed away

By Choi Yu-bin

Butterflies kept Seoul’s comfort woman statue company on Aug. 14.

The area in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul’s Jongno district was filled with thousands of yellow butterfly-shaped posters. They were being held up by around 3,000 people who came to the weekly Wednesday demonstration for a resolution on the issue of women drafted into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during the Second World War. This week’s demonstration was the 1,087th.

The posters carried messages to the Japanese government, including “Punish the people responsible” and “Bring the truth to light.” The butterflies were symbols of hope that all women, including surviving comfort women, can live free from discrimination, oppression, and violence.

Ha Sang-suk, an 85-year-old survivor, vented her anger during the gathering. “The Japanese committed these horrible deeds and still deny they did it,” she said. “They can’t do that.”

“They don’t have to pay money [as compensation], but they need to admit they did wrong,” she continued.

Ha was taken to China at the age of 17 to serve as a comfort woman. It was only in 2003 that she returned to her native soil. She watched teary-eyed during a heartbreaking performance of traditional pansori singing by the group Badak Sori.

Another survivor, 88-year-old Kim Bok-dong, took the stand to voice her feelings. “Recently, when they put up a memorial statue in California, Japanese people went around and lied that Japan had already apologized and paid compensation, that Korea was being unreasonable,” she said. “If Japan keeps lying, then we’re going to go around the world putting up memorials.”

Kim also expressed her hopes from President Park Geun-hye, who took office in February.

“When Park Chung-hee [Park Geun-hye’s father] was President, there were things that went undone,” Kim said. “Now that his daughter is President, I hope she will finish the job he couldn’t.”

Others took the platform to demand that Japan and South Korea seek a solution on the issue. They included Kim Seon-sil, co-president of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, and Neema Namadamu, a Congolese women’s rights activist.

The demonstration was attended by many high school and university students. Fifteen-year-old Cha Jeong-min said, “It was my first visit, but it was very moving to learn about the comfort women survivors and the Wednesday demonstrations and to actually come here myself.”

Choi Jin-hee, a 22-year-old university student, was in tears throughout the gathering.

“When I was a high school student, I heard a lot from my teachers, and I became very interested in the comfort women issue,” Choi said. “It’s my first Wednesday demonstration, and hearing [the survivors] actually speaking left me in tears.”

Choi also delivered a small gift to Ha.

The Korean Council issued a statement the same day.

“Twenty-two years ago today, Kim Hak-sun, a comfort woman survivor, became a witness to history who stood up against the Japanese government’s denial of the truth and evasion of responsibility,” it read. “This government, which routinely claims that the comfort women were a ‘wartime necessity,’ needs to uncover the whole truth about the comfort women crimes and make a formal apology and lawful compensation to the victims.”

Meanwhile, a right-wing Japanese visitor interrupted the demonstration shouting demands that the event not be held in front of the Embassy and distributing flyers before being stopped by police.

and other deceased comfort women

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