The comfort woman statue was not originally conceived by activist groups or artists, but was politically initiated and structurally designed by the head of Seoul’s Jongno District. This essay reveals little-known facts ignored in Japan and explains why Japan continues to lose the international public relations battle.

Publication date: 2017-06-28

I would like to point out one more new fact that is almost completely unknown in Japan.
The following is a continuation of the previous section.
First of all, know your opponent.
I will translate the portion of Mr. Kim’s interview in which he explains the meaning embedded in the comfort woman statue.
“The statue depicts a young girl with short-cropped hair and bare feet.
It represents the girlhood of elderly women whose lives were taken away by soldiers.
The girl’s heels do not touch the ground.
It embodies the pain of having lived without ever being able to take root in the land, despite being daughters of Korea.
At the same time, we wanted to include hope.
The bird resting on the girl’s left shoulder symbolizes peace.
The empty chair expresses the wish that anyone may sit beside her and stand in solidarity with the elderly women.
The shadow connected to the girl projects the women’s present 모습, and the white butterfly within the shadow conveys the wish for rebirth into a better life.”
With this, the rebuttal to factual misunderstandings circulating online should be sufficient.
Here, however, I would like to point out one more new fact that is almost completely unknown in Japan.
The idea of a comfort woman statue depicting a girl in traditional dress seated on a chair was not originally conceived by the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, nor by Mr. Kim Un-sung.
It was first proposed by Kim Young-jong, the head of Jongno District, who promoted the installation of the statue.
In March 2011, the Korean Council, an anti-Japanese organization, met with the Jongno District head to request permission to erect a monument to comfort women in front of the Japanese Embassy.
At that meeting, District Head Kim advised that while monuments require road occupation permits under road law, a comfort woman statue classified as an artwork would not require such permission, and he suggested creating a statue instead.
Before becoming district head, Kim Young-jong, a member of the ruling Democratic Party under the Moon Jae-in administration, had worked as an architect for 26 years.
Kim stated that he himself proposed the basic concepts of the current statue, including short black hair, a white chima jeogori, a black skirt, a wooden chair with an empty chair beside it, and a gaze fixed fifteen degrees upward toward the embassy (online edition of Maeil Business Newspaper, January 14, 2017).
Mr. Kim Un-sung was commissioned by the Korean Council to produce the statue in May 2011.
Thus, following District Head Kim Young-jong’s basic concept, the anti-American artist Kim Un-sung took charge of its production.
In Busan, when a comfort woman statue was installed in front of the Consulate General, the Dong District Office once removed it, but later allowed its installation after succumbing to public opposition.
In contrast, no such incident occurred in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
This was because the district head himself had planned and supported the installation.
In the January 26, 2016 edition of the Seoul Shinmun, shortly after the Japan–South Korea comfort women agreement, District Head Kim stated, “Since the comfort woman statue is an artwork, there will be no relocation or removal,” and “Even if a request comes from the central government, there is no basis for removal, and as the responsible administrative body, we have no intention of removing it.”
To refute claims based on facts, one must first understand the opponent.
In Japan, the role played by the Jongno District head in installing the comfort woman statue has not been reported at all.
Under these circumstances, Japan cannot win the international public relations battle.