Home   >   News   >   U.S.   >   Second anniversary of Glendale comfort women statue prompts celebration

Second anniversary of Glendale comfort women statue prompts celebration

July 17, 2015
Glendale's comfort woman statue (Yonhap)

Glendale’s comfort woman statue (Yonhap)

By The Korea Times Los Angeles staff

Celebration of the second anniversary of the installation of one of Glendale, Calif.’s most controversial statues — a memorial for comfort women in the form of a young girl seated next to an empty chair — will be held July 26.

The event, hosted by the Korean American Forum of California, will also recognize the eighth anniversary of the passing of House Resolution 121, which called for Japan to “formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner … for its coercion of young women into sexual slavery” in 2007.

Former comfort woman Lee Yong-soo will join a benefit dinner near the statue, at Adult Recreation Center, where performances by Chinese, Japanese and Korean organizations will unfold on stage.

“The efforts of the Southern California Korean American community to spread the word about the plight of the comfort women has garnered the attention of this country and the world,” said Kim Hyun-jung, head of the forum. “The second anniversary of the statue’s installation will be a chance for the Korean and Asian American communities, as well as locals, to remember history.”

Another event for the anniversary, inside the Alex Theatre, will be held by Glendale’s sister city association.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s April visit to the U.S. was mired in controversy as Asian community groups, most notably Korean Americans, demanded a formal apology for Japan’s use of sex slaves from countries including Korea, China and the Philippines during World War II.

The Glendale comfort women statue is one of many erected and planned around the country. A replica sits in Southfield, Mich., a memorial stands in Union City, N.J., and others have been proposed and planned in Chicago, Los Angeles, Fort Lee and Ellicott City, Maryland.

3 Comments

  1. Younghyun Kim

    July 18, 2015 at 1:57 AM

    As one of all world bastions of world peace and justice, I as a weak being have no choice but to awaken each of all japaneses to a sense of responsibility for the importance of fidelity or truth of our era’s definite history. How dare do they continue to distort and try equivocating their past’s apparent historical wrongdoings or the obvious facts of history, and make little of our international society’s cordial demands or calls for to feel compunction for former sins and stop having the slightest compunction for telling all those victims(all world comfort women) and the whole countries their undeniable and clear lies?

    김영현(Kim Younghyun), I as a weak being, once again, encourage Japanese government to never let their own be far away from all world people’s srtict warnings + truth outcry against/toward their equivocal or vague attitude about those all’s correct historical recognition and reflection. This weak being, 김영현, can’t understand Japan and their people that why can’t those all miss the truth nature of our past’s and presentday’s history. If it continues, they can never go together for world peace and justice, and also, never can they have a bright future without correct historical recognition and relfection, most of all.

    I, a weak being, 김영현, on behalf of our precious world attesters against their undeniable human atrocities, such as their forced sexual enslavement + their intensive exploitations of the oppressed people’s labor, will pay its big attention to their follow-up measures against, and even attest their experiments on living creatures, happened at/during the world War II, with all world innocent people and our international society if they go on to repute its same clear historical facts. But I, 연약한 김영현 equal a weak being , will open my/his big door to get my eye on a lot of enlightened Japanese’s forward-looking steps to beat a path to world justice. Thanks a lot for reading this plain message. Good luck to all world people!

    2015. 07. 18, in Suwon and Seoul, South Korea
    from Younghyun Kim

    Reply

  2. Pingback: Korean Sex Woman | live sex chat

  3. Pingback: Chinese Sex Slaves Ww2 | SEX Talk Live no business