By Lee Min-hyung
A Korean public relations expert Thursday posted an animated video on his Facebook page condemning Japanese Prime Minister Shinjo Abe for continuously denying Tokyo’s wartime sexual atrocities.
Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul, made the 45-second video to denounce the Japanese government’s attempt to whitewash the “comfort women” issue. He is also seeking an apology from the nation.
But Abe has denied Tokyo’s sexual enslavement of Korean and Asian women during World War II, sparking a strong backlash from Korea and other Asian countries.
The video contains Abe’s remark last month that, “A groundless slander that Japan as a nation had sex slaves is spreading across the world.”
“I wanted to raise Japan’s history distortion around the world by using Facebook which is especially popular among young people. This advertisement is aimed at Facebook users in 20 countries such as the U.S., Germany, China, Australia, the Republic of South Africa and Brazil,” Seo said.
He also posted the video on Youtube and linked it to Twitter accounts of other media, including The New York Times, CNN and BBC. It can be seen at: https://www.facebook.com/seokyoungdukPR
“We hope that Prime Minister Abe sincerely apologizes to the former comfort women all over the world, as soon as possible, and refrains from future distortions of history,” he added in an explanation of the video on his Facebook page, which comes in four languages.
The video clip ends with a remark made by a German playwright Bertolt Brecht: “Those who don’t know the truth are dummies, but those who know the truth, and call it a lie are criminals.”
Seo has made efforts to promote Korea and its culture around the world. In 2012 he had a central role in advertising Korea’s signature dish “bibimbap,” rice with a mixture of meat and vegetable, in the New York Times and New York Times Square.