1,213 weeks of fight
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A police officer steps over a butterfly-shaped stick in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Jan. 6, during the 1,212th weekly rally denouncing the sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II and the government’s recent agreement with Japan over the issue. The butterfly is a symbol displayed at the rallies. Some 1,000 activists, protesters and survivors of the wartime sex slavery attended the rally entering its 24th year. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Nam Hyun-woo
Since 1992, Korean victims of sex slavery during World War II and their supporters have been holding rallies every Wednesday to denounce the crime against humanity and demand that Japan repent for its wartime atrocities. Fighting the heat of summer and the bitter cold of winter, they kept their protests mostly in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul and this familiar sight has continued for two dozen years, or 1,213 weeks as of Wednesday.
Then there came the landmark deal between Seoul and Tokyo on Dec. 28 to resolve this long stalled issue. Japan promised one-billion-yen in compensation for the victim’s ordeal, proclaiming the agreement is “finally and irreversibly” resolved.
Participants of the 1,211th weekly rally in front of Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Dec. 30, denouncing sex slavery during World War II, hold photos of deceased victims. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
The deal apparently ended up trampling “butterflies,” the symbol of their rally, and fueled the 1,212th rally on Jan. 6 became fiercer. Japan failed to spell out its legal responsibilities for the atrocities in the accord, raising skepticism about its sincerity — what the protesters and the victims really demand.
Yoon Mee-hyang, head of the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, which organizes the weekly rally, expressed her frustration that the deal marginalized the group’s 24 years of effort.
A female protester cries behind a statue of a girl symbolizing the victims of wartime sex slavery, during the 1,212th weekly rally held in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, on Jan. 6. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
And there were signs asking Japan, “Would you demolish Yasukuni Shrine (which houses the remains of Class-A war criminals), if we pay 10 billion won (approximately tantamount to 1 billion yen)?”
After Kim Hak-soon, a former sex slave, first testified about the cruelty in 1991, some 238 victims came forward to speak out, but only 46 are still alive now. Their average age is 89.
One of the victims at the rally said that they continue their rally not to deliver their ordeal to the next generation, and not for money. But the announced deal and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s remarks that he will not offer an apology to Korea have already triggered anger from the younger generations to continue the fight.