Military Comfort Women

[Xiaowei Hunt]

In Professor Jung-Kim’s presentation there are two slides showing military comfort woman Statue. I heard about the term military comfort women, but I did not expect to see any military comfort woman statue until this seminar. According to Professor Jung-Kim, the statues can be seen in front of the Embassy of Japan in Seoul, South Korea. The statute is a young Korean lady, short-haired, in traditional Korean outfit, sitting on a greyed-colored chair, facial expression serious (no smile). Most importantly there is a pigeon on her left shoulder, symbolizing peace; therefore, comfort woman statue is also known as Peace Statute. Another statute of similar theme can be found in Chinatown, San Francisco where The memorial statue is made of bronze and stands at 10-feet tall. It depicts three young women atop a pedestal — one each from China, Korea, and the Philippines — standing in a circle, holding hands. 

 

I am glad statues of military comfort women were finally installed to remind people of what happened to some Asian women in WWII because whoever passes by the statute would ask “What is this?”, “What happened?” and “How did this happen?” etc.