Little Statue, Big Message
The “object” of my choice is not necessarily a physical item per se, but a brilliant idea that inspired and motivated others to pursue transnationally. An idea first proposed by the Korean Council for Women drafted for Military Prostitutes by Japan, a statue was to be built in front of the Japanese embassy in downtown Seoul, South Korea, to send a sincere yet grave message regarding the oppression of former sex slaves during the Japanese occupation of Korea.
As for a brief background introduction, from 1930 to 1945, during the colonization of Korea by Japan, many young women were forced to suffer as sex slaves by the Japanese soldiers in the “comfort stations”. These women were inhumanely abused against their will to satisfy the sexual desires and to improve their morale during World War II. The living conditions in these camps were unspeakably horrible, as their sanitation and nutrition were not taken proper care for. The women did neither dare speak out against them nor escape from them, because society would most likely have viewed them as unclean and unacceptable, as were the social perspective on the comfort women. Even after time passed, the victims hid the truth, until by the 1990’s when they started to give testimonials and the issue started getting a lot more attention. This idea of building the “Statue of Peace”, or the Pyeongwha-bi, shifted from Korea to the States, and was targeted towards the Japanese government for them to admit their falsehood and formally apologize to the surviving “comfort women”. This transnational idea, in my opinion, would fit well under the category of War and the Figure of the Refugee, as it represents a girl whose youth and life was destroyed by foreigners.
This idea was put into action on the 1000th weekly rally, also called the Wednesday demonstration, by a sculptor named Kim Woon-Sung. A statue of a 13-year old girl sitting across the Japanese embassy was erected on December 14, 2011. After 20 long years of protesting, former “comfort” women and their supporters would consider the statue to have great impact and meaning. It is impossible to ignore the distinct message and meaning of the new landmark, but the Japanese government chose to ignore it. Furthermore, they requested that the statue should be removed, as it denounces their dignity and international reputation. Of course, the Korean government refused since “The statue is a free and rightful expression by the victims and their civilian supporters” (koreanjoongangdaily.joins.com). Although some time has passed since Japanese occupation, people and government alike cared and supported these women because Korea, overall, was and still is a nationalistic country. Anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea was an elephant in the room, while animosity between the two nations was growing. Similar patterns were shown when a monumental plaque was installed in Palisades Park, Bergen County, New Jersey in 2010 for the memory of Korean women who were sexually enslaved at the average age of 13 by Japanese soldiers during World War II. Two delegations of Japanese officials came to the park lobbying to remove the monument: the first on May 1st, 2012, and the second on May 6th, 2012. These attempts at convincing the park authorities only deepened the animosity between South Korea and Japan on the issue on comfort women. In fact, their attempts to remove the monument spurred the movement to plan more such monuments around Korean-based communities across the United States. An example of this spread of idea is the unveiling of the “Statue of Peace” in Glendale, California on July 29, 2013. Another example would be Chang-Jin Lee’s work “Comfort Women Wanted” on one of the DOT Urban Art Program’s art display at 14th Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan. As such, the movement was not only active in South Korea, but rather a transnational movement motivated by a single idea to commemorate the 20th year, or the 1000th week, of protesting for sincere admittance and apology.
As time runs out and does not wait for the comfort women forever, all they want is a sincere apology, not a financial compensation. How could they bid farewell to the world in which took their dignity and freedom from such a young age without having them restored? These monuments, based on the idea introduced before, symbolize the courage these victims of “comfort women” have shown in testifying their history to the world. This problem is not limited to Korea - other countries have experienced wars and sexual slavery – and must be addressed to stop it from happening again in the future. We live in a different world today than in the World War II era; while national security was above human rights and decency, human rights and dignity have the highest priority in the modern days. Just as Germany sincerely apologized and have focused on educating their children not to repeat the same mistakes, Japan should take a similar course of action for their soldiers’ crimes as a culturally and economically mature nation and a major Asian powerhouse.
Sources:
http://panoramapsu.com/2016/04/wounds-comfort-women-unhealed-80-years/
http://typehost.com/article/pyeonghwa-bi-peace-monument-seoul-south-korea
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/nyregion/monument-in-palisades-park-nj-irritates-japanese-officials.html
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2945683
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Peace
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