"BROOKHAVEN, GA -- A monument that draws attention to one of the ugliest chapters of colonial rule in the Pacific is being erected in Brookhaven, the city announced Tuesday.
From 1910 to 1945, the systematic raping of South Korean women by Japanese soldiers in wartime brothels was commonplace, representing the longest and most painful saga of sex trafficking in modern times.
The plight of the former sex slaves, dubbed 'Comfort Women' by the soldiers back then, has been a point of contention between Japan and South Korea for decades as a a dwindling number of the women (a little more than three dozen are still alive) continue to agitate the Japanese government for appropriate recognition and reparations.
In a unanimous vote, the Brookhaven City Council approved plans to build a memorial for the 'Comfort Women' to raise awareness of the injustice and depravity of the global human sex trade. Brookhaven's statue, named Young Girl’s Statue for Peace, will show that the city, a quarter of whose residents are foreign-born, is in solidarity with the women and against sex trafficking across the world.
‘We are grateful for the courage, passion and commitment of the city officials of Brookhaven,’ Baik Kyu Kim, the Chair of the Atlanta Comfort Women Memorial Task Force, said in a news release. ‘It is our hope that this beautiful statue will bring much healing, peace and hope.’
Brookhaven is the first city in Georgia and the Deep South to publicly commemorate the cause of the comfort women."
(Via.). Brookhaven Monument To Memorialize 'Comfort Women' - Brookhaven, GA Patch:
During the public portion of the Brookhaven City Council meeting two people spoke in favor the placing that statue claiming in part it was not “Japan bashing.” I am sorry to disagree with these two well intentioned persons.
ReplyDeleteThis proposed Comfort Women statue only memorializes women servicing the Japanese military during and prior to the start of World War Two. While at the same time ignoring the women pressed into Comfort Service by the South Korean military for the U.S. military over about a forty year period. From around 1950 to around 1990, and a lawsuit currently is pending. Also ignores the Comfort Women pressed into service by South Korean troops for South Korean troops in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
By claiming empathy of the Comfort Women who were in the service for the Japanese military while ignoring the two aforementioned Comfort Women groups can reasonably be assessed as Japan bashing.
I am not writing should not allow this statue, just requesting in the statues inscription include the other two ignored Comfort Women groups. By doing so it will demonstrate to the nation and people of Japan your concern for all women who served as Comfort Women in the Asian theater prior to 1990. It will also demonstrate the sincerity of the two people who spoke at the City Council meeting stating it was not “Japan bashing.”