뉴스레터

'Comfort Women' Cartoon Exhibitio
(Seodaemun Prison History Hall,
March 2-30, 2014)

Ever since March 8, 106 years ago, when 15,000 American female workers called for improving their poor working conditions and granting them suffrage, there has been dramatic improvement in the human rights and legal rights of women over the past century. Nevertheless, there are still women who end their life with unbearably cruel memories of the past and so much agony that they couldn't even talk to others about it. They are none other than 'comfort women' across the world, victims of the sexual slavery for the Japanese military.

Through the 1993 Kono Statement, the Japanese government admitted the responsibility of the Japanese government and military and expressed an apology. However, there has been made no official apology and compensation demanded by the victims.

On March 5, 2014, Foreign Minister of Korea Yun Byung-se attended the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, where he addressed the 'comfort women' issue. It is the first time that a Korean foreign minister has given a key note speech about a human rights issue at a UNHRC meeting. I applaud the Korean government for recognizing the 'comfort women' issue as a women rights issue and striving for its resolution.

In Japan, however, there is a recent move among government officials and politicians to deny the Kono Statement. The preparation of the Kono Statement was based on field surveys and interviews, not only with 'comfort women' but also with the managers of 'comfort stations,' residents near 'comfort stations,' and the officials of the Japanese Government-General of Korea. Furthermore, the release of the Kono Statement was based on the historical fact that the Japanese military had been involved in mobilizing 'comfort women.' Therefore, Japan's denial of the Kono Statement is equivalent to denying the universal human rights and history. Ambassador Takashi Okada (오카다 다카시, 岡田隆) of the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, reading a statement by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on March 6, 2014, stressed that "the Japanese government was doing the best they could do to ensure that there would be no more violation of the dignity and basic human rights of women in the 21st century." I sincerely hope that the Japanese government will prove it to the international community with action rather than words. What Japan should do now is to admit the facts as the perpetrator, take responsible measures on government levels, and try to figure out how to conduct history education right.

The cartoons that portrayed the trauma of 'comfort women' during the Angoulême International Comics Festival were brought to Korea and exhibited in the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History from March 1 to April 13, 2014. The horror and brutality frightened me. To protect the human rights of women and heal their wounds, a heartfelt apology from the perpetrator is needed. Those victims who took heart to come out in the world paved the way for protecting the human rights of women. I pay respect and gratitude to the victims for their courage.