hankyoreh

WFPD standing chair

The Women’s Forum for Peace and Diplomacy (WFPD) and Korean Women Lawyers’ Association (KWLA) are planning an official proposal on May 30 to have Lee Yong-su and 52 other former comfort women for the Japanese military nominated as candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The two groups, respectively headed by Shin Nak-gyun and Lee Myeong-suk, also organized a supporters’ banquet titled “Peace Garden for Women and Children” at the Eun Deok Cultural Center in Seoul‘s Jongno district on May 27 and developed plans for a “nomination dialogue.”

WFPD standing chair Lee-Kim Hyeon-sook previously delivered a keynote presentation at the 2015 International Women’s Peace Symposium at Seoul City Hall in May 25 in which she proposed “taking advantage of the great energy and momentum from the WomenCrossDMZ Peace Walk to give the Nobel Peace Prize to the comfort women survivors and the women drafted into related activities for the Japanese military.”

The aim was to recognize the elderly survivors’ dedication to women’s rights and regional peace in the postwar decades through their opposition to violence against women and their calls for reflection on war crimes. Another goal was to send the message to the rest of the world that Seoul and Tokyo’s historical conflicts cannot be solved - and Northeast Asian peace cannot be sustained - without a resolution to the comfort women issue.

The co-chairs of the committee for the supporters’ banquet were high-ranking Won-Buddhist monk Lee Seon-jong and KWLA chairperson Lee Myeong-soo. Preparatory committee members included Lee-Kim, Kim Yeong-hui, Lee Jeong-ok, Lee Sang-ok, Cha Mi-gyeong, Lee Hyeon-ju, Choi Hye-jin, Seo Hye-jin, and Park Hyeon-hwa.

Later on May 27, the groups sent a letter to the US Congress and the US embassy in Seoul titled “A Call for Reflection on and Responsibility for History from Japan and an Expression of Concern on Trilateral Military Cooperation.” In it, they called on Congress to “put pressure on the Japanese government to repent for history and solve the comfort women issue.”

With a membership of over 4,000, the KWLA is the country’s largest group of female legal professionals, with activities in a broad range of areas including combating domestic violence and child abuse and supporting victims of sexual crimes. The WFPD works to build public diplomacy capabilities and improve women’s rights through educational programs in South Korea and abroad for peace in Northeast Asia.

By Kim Kyung-ae, senior staff writer

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