뉴스레터

People gathered again, braving a typhoon

September 7, 2019 was the day that marked the 11th anniversary of the erection of the Arirang Memorial on Miyako Island, Okinawa. Despite the approach of Typhoon Lingling, our family boarded a plane bound for Okinawa. A one-hour delay for the flight to Okinawa, 30-minute late arrival at Naha Airport in Okinawa, and two-hour boarding standby after missing a domestic flight to Miyako Island... Anxieties that we could arrive in safety weighed on us since the beginning of our journey. Torrential rains were pummeling Miyako Island, which had been gutted by the typhoon.

We managed to arrive in Miyako Island after some twists and turns. A memorial ceremony had been scheduled for 5 pm, but it was already past 5 when we arrived in Miyako Island. As we pondered whether to give up on attending the service, we received a telephone call from the organizers. They told us to hurry to the ceremony, saying they were waiting for us. We were told to just say, “Let’s go to the Arirang Memorial in Nobaru.” Nobaru is the name of a village where the Arirang Memorial is located. Yet no taxi driver was aware of the location of the Arirang Memorial. We let four taxies pass like that, and the driver of the fifth taxi volunteered to look for the place, saying he was born and grew up near Nobaru. Braving the heavy rain, traversing puddles and sometimes going the wrong way, our taxi barely found the Arirang Memorial. We were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Uezato and Messrs. Kawamitsu, Nakahara, and Hong Yun Shin. With some people returning home, they had been waiting for us. They were familiar faces that I had met after a one-year hiatus.

People leave, but memories remain intact

Symposiums also took place in Naha and Miyako Island, Okinawa, last year, marking the 10th anniversary of the memorial’s erection, and people from Seoul, Tokyo, and Okinawa gathered to for the crowded ceremony. The ceremony was well prepared, with much thanks to the support from the Northeast Asian History Foundation. I attended the memorial service last year for the second time, and could not control my feelings the whole time because of the memories about the comfort women in Okinawa and the special meaning of the ceremony. But I was personally sorry to not look back on such feelings calmly because I had attended on business.

Kim Hyeon-ok, an ethnic Korean in Okinawa, had been taken to Okinawa as a comfort woman in 1944, and spent her lifetime with Grandma Bae Bong-gi, who passed away in Okinawa in 1991. She appeared very moved during last year’s memorial service, saying that narratives about Okinawa, the comfort women, and us were continuing. She added that she was very glad to see the presence of many young people. Moved by her remarks, I made up my mind to come with my child next year.

On September 5, two days before the ceremony, however, Kim Su-seop, her companion and husband, passed away. Hong Yun Shin said that he arrived in Miyako Island after attending the funeral ceremony in Naha on September 6. Wrapping up the ceremony of the 11th anniversary, Hong said the following.

“Mr. Kim Su-seop has passed away. He will be meeting Grandma Bae Bong-gi in heaven. They must be weeping, glad to be reunited and see us, seeing as it's raining like this... We won’t forget grandpa Kim Su-seop or grandma Bae Bong-gi. Their stories remain here, where the memorial is located. We will continue to convey and expand these narratives.”

I looked back at my child and his friend while listening to Hong Yun Shin. Do these children know what “great missions” they must inherit? History is not the aggregate of causes, institutions, and economic numbers. It is stories about people who struggled to live better lives and made it day after day. Those who fell victim to causes, institutions, and economic numbers ask us the questions of what they must do to live like human beings. People have been doing whatever they can to not repeat past misdeeds, hailing memories, peace, justice, and human rights. Respondents are returning to heaven, leaving behind stories, but their stories will not come to an end, and will continue on, resonating even more loudly.

A commemorative photo marking the 10th anniversary of a memorial for the comfort women of Miyako Island (left)

and a photo commemorating the 11th anniversary (right).

There will be an event to mark the 12th anniversary in September 2020.

“Let’s go to Arirang Memorial in Nobaru”

As usual, a small symposium took place this year on September 8, one day after the day the memorial was erected. I made a modest presentation in the symposium, then joined the villagers to take time to talk about the comfort women of Miyako Island and to remember them. Toward the end of the event, one man raised his hand and asked to “explain why comfort women are sex slaves.” Messrs. Nakahara and Uezato and I explained in earnest, but he repeated his question, saying, “That makes no sense,” and “That is not an answer to my question.” I could sense that the man only wanted to make his own statement. He had no intentions to hear the answer from the outset. I and the other people who answered him there were aware of the fact, but Mr. Nakahara and the people of Miyako Island continued their explanations hard. We were of an opinion that he might change even a little someday if we keep explaining.

Finally, Mr. Yonaha conveyed his memories about a Korean comfort woman that he had seen. The Korean comfort woman on Miyako Island, who used to come and go from the well to the comfort station to do the laundry, often took a rest on some rocks for a moment near the home of Mr. Yonaha. To the boy Yonaha, she was the “atbaragi” sister. “Atbaragi” is a dialect of Miyako island, meaning beautiful. One day, Mr. Yonaha, who became a grandfather and was watering flowers that bloomed between the rocks, happened to meet Hong Yun Shin, a foreign student who visited Miyako Island to research the Japanese comfort stations. On September 7, 2008, the rocks became the Arirang Memorial. Behind the Arirang Memorial is the newly erected memorial stone “To the Women”. Mr. Nakahara said in the reception afterwards, “Now we have a new mission. Whenever we come to Miyako Island, let’s tell the taxi driver to “take me to the Arirang Memorial in Nobaru.” Let’s continue to publicize the Arirang Memorial that way.” Around September 7 next year, there will be an event to mark the 12th anniversary of the memorial erection. Then I will get on a taxi on Miyako Island and say, “Let’s go to the Arirang Memorial in Nobaru.” And on my way (to Nobaru), I will tell the taxi driver about stories of the “Arirang Memorial in Nobaru”.