뉴스레터

The sky that was overcast when we left downtown Los Angeles had turned clear and sunny by the time we approached Glendale where the Statue of a Girl of Peace, the first 'comfort women' statue overseas, would be unveiled. Glendale is a small city in the suburbs of Los Angeles where about 10,000 Koreans are said to reside (about 5% of the total population of 200,000). The Central Library of Glendale where the unveiling ceremony would be held was located at the heart of the city with a high traffic of people.

The unveiling event consisted of two parts. One was the unveiling ceremony in the park. And the other was the pre-event in the Central Library for the presentation of what had led up to the erection of the Statue of a Girl of Peace. When President Kim Hak-joon and the rest of us from the NAHF arrived 20 minutes to 11 A.M. on July 30 when the pre-event was scheduled to be held, we saw people lined up in a long queue in front of the Central Library. They told us that they had come to attend the same event as us. We joined the queue for registration before we could enter the venue. As there had been some bickering with Japanese-American residents recently over the erection of the statue, the organizers of the event were apparently very concerned about keeping order to prevent any trouble.

U.S. Politicians and International Media Gather to Attend the Statue of a Girl of Peace Unveiling Ceremony

As the start of the event approached, the auditorium was filled with people. The familiar journalists from home and abroad who occupied the back rows indicated that there was much media interest in this event. We expected that the event would start at 11 A,M,, but there was an announcement that it would start half an hour late at 11:30 A.M. At the start of the event at 11:30 A.M., there was the screening of a 7-minute video featuring the voices of 'comfort women' and telling truths about the sexual slavery for the Japanese military. Toward the end, the video showed messages from American politicians celebrating this event, including Michael Honda, the Democrat congressman who proposed the U.S. House of Representatives House Resolution on 'comfort women' in 2007, Ed Royce, the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Adam Schiff, the Democrat congressman who represents the district that includes Glendale. After the video, the pre-event began with the opening speech by the representative of the Korean American Forum of California that took the initiative of building the Statue of a Girl of Peace in the city of Glendale. And members of the Glendale City Council who had lent full support to the erection of the Statue of a Girl of Peace in the city of Glendale, including Frank Quintero, Laura Friedman, Ara Najarian, and Zareh Sinanyan, gave speeches of celebration.

Frank Quintero, a three-time mayor of Glendale, is the councilman who took the initiative of building the Statue of a Girl of Peace. He said in delight that "it was the best day of his life because to build the statue was to get history right, and it had been finally done despite strong opposition from Japanese Americans." Glendale councilwoman Laura Friedman also said that "the City Council had received a tremendous amount of pressure and hundreds of threats by mail, but proceeded with the project because it had believed that the sexual slavery for the Japanese military was an issue that deserved attention from the American society." Other councilmen Ara Najarian and Zareh Sinanyan also delivered messages that "to show interest in 'comfort women' and build the Statue of a Girl of Peace was to bring out justice, and hopefully it would help heal the trauma of those victims." In their message, I could feel the genuine heart, determination and commitment of the Glendale councilmen who worked to build the memorial on a piece of the city's public land, and designate July 30 as the annual 'comfort women' day.

Ms. Kim Bok-dong Urges "Japan's Heartfelt Repentance and Apology for Peace in the Future"

And a few words of appreciation were said to those whose efforts had made it possible to build the 'comfort women' statue in Glendale. And comments from the audience and celebrations with performances followed. Finally, Ms. Kim Bok-dong, a victim of the Japanese military sexual slavery who attended this unveiling ceremony, stepped up on the platform. Dressed in a black skirt and a white, traditional Korean-style blouse, Ms. Kim delivered a compelling message to the audience that filled the Central Library Auditorium: "If we are to leave our future generations a peaceful world that knows no wars, Japan should repent and apology for their past wrongdoing from the bottom of their heart." She added that "hopefully the 'comfort women' statue unveiled today would raise awareness of Japan's atrocities among American citizens," and didn't forget to ask to "protect and preserve the statue." While Japanese political leaders are still trying to distort or cover up what the Japanese military had done to those women, the short yet powerful message from one of the victims who endured the history of suffering resonated deeply with the audience. As Mr. Kim stepped down from the platform, the audience of the pre-event all rose from their seats to express their encouragement and support for her, and gave her a standing ovation wishing her health for a long time to come.

After the one-hour pre-event, we moved to the Glendale Central Park in front of the Central Library for the main event. Many people had already gathered in the venue under the midday sun. As the audience of the pre-event joined them, there were over 500 people to watch the unveiling ceremony. In the venue, there stood the Statue of a Girl of Peace covered in a large cloth of purple, the color symbolizing 'comfort women,' and the purple cloth had patterns of butterflies, large and small.

Before the unveiling ceremony, Glendale councilmen and other important figures in attendance gave speeches. Of these speeches, the particularly noteworthy one was given by Kathy Masaoka from the NRCC (Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress), a civil group of Japanese Americans, who attended the event along with a dozen fellow members. She strongly criticized the Japanese government for failing to apologize properly for 'comfort women' and their other crimes committed during the Second World War, and the Japanese government and politicians for promoting false history education, and demanded their heartfelt apology. Before we attended the unveiling ceremony, we were told that there had been threats and menaces from Japanese Americans. But all the Japanese Americans who assembled in the venue said that they were total supporters of the policies of the city of Glendale committed to letting people know the correct history by designating the 'comfort women' day and building the 'comfort women' statue on a public site. The city of Glendale's 'comfort women' statue unveiling ceremony was a celebration made possibly by the mature civil society of the U.S. that valued universal human rights instead of the logic of power in the international community. And those who gathered there to join the event that day also seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Hopefully the Message of the 'Comfort Women' Statue Will Resonate Across America

The Statue of a Girl of Peace in Glendale is the fourth 'comfort women' memorial erected in the U.S. The three memorials in the states of New York and New Jersey were in the form of monuments. And the most recent one was in the form of a statue of a girl who provoked the image of any victim of the sexual slavery for the Japanese military at that time. While the appearance is less important than the essence underneath it, I felt that the Statue of a Girl of Peace visualizing a girl would resonate much more strongly with the American society than the existing monuments or anything else. I don't think I was alone in feeling this way. Although the victims are now old ladies with grey hair and cannot go back to the days when they were girls and forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military, I hope that the Japanese government will repent and make a heartfelt apology as soon as possible so that there will be a big smile on the grim face of the Statue of a Girl of Peace. I hope that the Japanese government will muster courage and act to resolve the 'comfort women' issue before another victim passes away. I pray that we will see the day of true liberation for the victims of the sexual slavery for the Japanese military at the earliest possible date.