By Jhoo Dong-chan
A statue commemorating the Korean women forced into sexual slavery during World War II is set to be unveiled in Chicago.
Lucy Baek, 78, who is leading the project, said the Windy City will have the statue as soon as August.
When completed, the statue will be the third of its kind in the United States, following one in Glendale, California, and another in Southfield, Michigan.
The statue is being made by Korean sculpting couple Kim Un-seong and Kim Seo-kyeong, who made the original comfort women statue in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
The couple started to make the Chicago statue last month, and believe it will take at least two months to complete the project, Baek said.
The project was initiated in July last year and is being sponsored by the Korean-American Association of Chicago. The association has raised some $52,000 so far for its design and construction.
The association is now searching for an ideal site to locate the statue.
Baek said she is expecting strong opposition from the local Japanese community, but it is “our job to teach the nation’s true history to the next generation.”
Along with the two existing comfort women statues, there are more than ten monuments in the U.S. to commemorate these victims.
The Japanese government has consistently demanded that they be removed.