Are 'comfort women' statues in wrong places?

By Yi Whan-woo

Korean activists have erected girl statues symbolizing victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery near Japanese missions here, but Japan claims they are not located appropriately.

Tokyo has asked the Korean government to make efforts to move the sculptures to different locations, but there is a general consensus in Korea that Japan should apologize to the victims first "in a sincere manner."

In a sense, the sculptures have become the pride of the nation in Korea, but Japan has been increasing its protests against them, making it more difficult for the two governments to find a solution.

Although there are other statues of a girl across Korea, the one in Busan has emerged as a new bone of contention because it was set up after the two neighbor reached an agreement in December 2015 over Korean sex slaves during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule.

Some government officials, experts and civic activists believe the Korean government should remove this statue set up by advocates for the former sex slaves.

The officials claim the December 2015 agreement should be respected although they acknowledged it was against public sentiment in Korea.

An activist wipes dust off the statue of a girl symbolzing former Korean sex slaves during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule outside the Japanese consulate in Busan on Feb. 4. / Yonhap

Speaking before the National Assembly on Jan. 13, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said "The international community generally views it as not appropriate to place a facility or a sculpture outside diplomatic missions of a certain country."

He was responding to a question related to Japan's recall of Ambassador to Korea Yasumasa Nagamine, Jan. 9, in retaliation for the installment of the statue in Busan.

Japan claims the statue violates the "final and irrevocable" agreement, under which the neighbors agreed to refrain from blaming each other over Tokyo's wartime sex crimes.

Japan has also argued that Korea should remove the "girl statues" outside all of its diplomatic missions, including its embassy in Seoul, in return for its offer of 10 billion yen ($8.7 million) to help surviving victims.

"As a Korean, I fully understand the negative feeling we have about the agreement, but the deal has been made and it should be carried out," said Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University.

He agrees with Tokyo's argument that the statue in Busan breaches the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Article 22 states that a host country should protect the premises of diplomatic missions "against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity."

"Humiliation and insult may be an effective way to raise awareness toward wrongdoings committed by a country, but they also lead to a war if we look at the past," Park said.

"There are many other places where we can erect the statues and continue our campaign against Japan's wartime sex crimes."

He suggested scrapping the December 2015 agreement by returning the 10 billion yen if Korea and Japan continue to narrow their difference over the dispute on the statues.

Lee Myeon-woo, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute, echoed a similar view.

"I am aware of the criticism toward Japan's unrepentant view over its wartime sex crimes," he said "But at least superficially, it has made reconciliatory steps by offering 10 billion yen.

"Our government should make similar efforts by consulting civic activists who set up the statue in front of the Japanese embassy and consulate. It appears the Seoul government is falling short of making such efforts."

Frederick Carriere, a senior fellow at the Korean Peninsula Affairs Center of the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, suggested "the two parties to the conflict should meet in a confidential setting where they can try to get at the deep roots of the conflict and mutually explore a possible solution."

"Some might say this is what was done last year, and the problem is that it didn't work since the agreement reached has not survived the politics of the bilateral relationship," Carriere wrote in an e-mail.

"My view is that an agreement should initially be worked out between the aggrieved parties and then later endorsed and implemented by the governments. It seems to me that agreement reached last year took the reverse approach and this is a major reason it has not survived politically."

Carriere proposed broadening the search for a solution beyond relations during the colonial period before 1945.

"Instead of the two principal parties pointing a finger of blame at each other, what is needed is a mutual commitment by all the parties to undertake in good faith the most comprehensive, and most sincere, search for the truth that it is humanly possible,"he wrote.

"Further, I think the initial leadership in the process needs to be exercised by private citizens and not the governments."

Some civic activists posted notices near the statue in Busan in what are seen as gestures against its installment.

One notice reads, "The Republic of Korea should forgive Japan." Another reads, "Until when do we have to hate Japan? Let us forgive and reconcile with them first."