Student Council "Demolition at Dawn Without Our Knowledge"
Seems Unable to Withstand Pressure from Japanese Government Side
The University of Kassel in Hesse, Germany, abruptly removed the Statue of Peace erected by students. It is presumed that pressure from Japan was the reason behind the removal.
The Kassel University Student Council posted on their official Instagram on the 9th (local time), stating, "The university removed the Statue of Peace early this morning without our knowledge," and added, "We will soon announce our official position on this matter."
Post uploaded on SNS by the Kassel University Student Council on the 9th regarding the surprise removal of the Girl Statue [Image source=Official Instagram capture of Kassel University Student Council]
Officials reported, "There were ongoing pressures from the Japanese side behind this sudden removal."
The Justice and Memory Foundation issued a statement on the same day, revealing, "Three days after the installation of the Statue of Peace, the Japanese Consul General in Frankfurt met with the president of the University of Kassel and requested the removal, claiming that the statue could incite anti-Japanese sentiment and threaten peace in the Kassel area."
They continued, "Since then, the university has been continuously troubled by visits from the Japanese Consul General and malicious emails from right-wing groups and Japanese citizens, to the extent that it interfered with their work," and added, "It appears that the university ultimately could not withstand the various pressures from the Japanese government."
They further stated, "This incident is a representative example of the Japanese government's arrogant and shameless denial and distortion of history," and "We strongly condemn the Japanese government for pressuring the removal of the Statue of Peace."
The Kassel University Student Council expressed their intention to erect the statue early last year. They contacted the Korea Council in Berlin, which had installed the Statue of Peace there, and expressed their desire to install the statue in time for the world-renowned international contemporary art exhibition held every five years, 'documenta Kassel.' The Student Council obtained permission from the university to use the site and passed a resolution for the permanent installation of the statue through the student parliament.
The statue was installed in the form of a permanent loan from the Korea Council, a Korean-German civil society organization, which received it as a donation from sculptors Kim Un-sung and Kim Seo-kyung. The University of Kassel is the first university campus in Germany to have the Statue of Peace installed. Tobias Schnuer, the former Student Council president who led the installation, stated, "The Japanese government's attempt to remove the Berlin statue without critically acknowledging their own history was the catalyst for erecting the statue here."
In a phone interview with Yonhap News on the 9th, former Student Council president Schnuer said, "It appears that the university authorities secretly removed the statue around 7 to 8 a.m., which was deeply shocking. Until last semester, we held seminars and art projects here. I cannot understand why it had to be removed," and added, "We plan to engage in activities protesting the removal together with students and civil society."
Tobias Schnuer, former president of the student council at the University of Kassel, Germany, who led the installation of the Statue of Peace last year [Image source=Yonhap News]
Han Jeong-hwa, the representative of the Korea Council who donated the statue and permanently loaned it to the Kassel University Student Council, also said, "There were ongoing negotiations with the university president demanding the removal and the Student Council opposing it," and described the sudden unilateral removal as shocking. In response, a large-scale protest event is planned at the University of Kassel.
On the 9th, the University of Kassel announced on its official website, "The Korea Council's loaned exhibit was removed by experts on the 9th," and added, "It will be carefully stored in a warehouse until the Korea Council retrieves it."
They further explained, "Permanent exhibitions of artworks at the University of Kassel are conducted only when educational and academic research projects are continuously carried out and when the relevance of the installation site is proven, through joint decisions by the university faculty and the president," and clarified, "The Statue of Peace does not meet these criteria."
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