Japanese Prime Minister Expresses Intent to Dismantle Ahead of Germany Visit
Japanese media reported that the Mitte District Office, the administrative authority overseeing the Statue of Peace installed in Berlin, has expressed its intention to request the removal of the statue.
On the 11th, Kyodo News reported that ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's visit to Germany, the Mitte District Office announced its intention to remove the statue. The office stated that the permit for the statue's installation expires in September and plans to request the Korea Council, a Korean residents' organization in Germany that installed the statue, to dismantle it.
Prime Minister Kishida is scheduled to visit Germany from the 12th (local time) after completing his U.S. trip for the NATO summit and other engagements, where he will hold a summit with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Kyodo News reported, "Prime Minister Kishida requested cooperation from Chancellor Scholz, who visited Japan in 2022, for the removal of the statue."
The inscription on the statue states that during World War II, the Japanese military forcibly took women across Asia and the Pacific as sex slaves. It also includes a message honoring the courage of survivors campaigning to prevent the recurrence of such war crimes. It is noted that the statue was donated by the Justice and Memory Foundation.
When the statue was installed in September 2020, the Mitte District Office issued a removal order, citing the failure to notify them in advance about the content of the inscription as a problem. However, when the Korea Council filed an injunction with the court, the removal order was suspended. Subsequently, the special permit for the statue was extended until September 28, 2022. Since then, it is known that the Mitte District Office has 'tolerated' the statue installed in a public place at its discretion without legal grounds.
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