Teacher offers free screening for 'comfort women' film

‘It’s our duty to

remember sex

slave victims’'

By Kim Bo-eun

A Seoul high school teacher rented a cinema to provide a free screening of a newly released film on Korean sexual slavery victims during World War II.

Daekwang High School's Korean history teacher, Choi Tae-sung, 46, paid for 434 seats in five halls screening "Spirits' Homecoming" on Friday evening at a cinema in Gangnam, southern Seoul.

"I thought about what I could do as a history teacher after reading an article which said the film had difficulty finding theaters that would screen it," Choi said.

"I believe it is our duty to remember our painful past as well as remember the victims, apart from the deal Korea and Japan reached about comfort women. Also, the movie can be used as a video in teaching children about Japanese colonial rule in Korea, so I thank those who made this film.”

Considering movie tickets cost nearly 10,000 won, Choi spent more than a month's pay buying the seats.

“Spirits' Homecoming” is based on the testimonies of comfort women.

It took over 14 years to make the film due to a lack of money. The movie was completed thanks to some 75,000 people who made donations, mostly ordinary citizens.

But it faced another challenge in finding a distributor and theaters that would show the film, after Korea and Japan reached a deal on the thorny issue in December, agreeing to offer financial support to the victims and put the issue behind them.

Amid such developments, the opening date of the film, originally set for December, was postponed. But with the help of online petitions, the film was screened at major movie chains such as CGV and Lotte Cinema.

The film, which opened Wednesday, topped the box office the same day, reaching sales of 153,783 tickets at 507 theaters across the country.