Cheonan City Holds Memorial Ceremony for Japanese Military Comfort Women Victims' Remembrance Day

Mayor Park Sangdon Lays Flowers at the Graves of the Late Kim Haksoon and Kim Bokdong

Mayor Sangdon Park visited the National Manghyang Memorial Park to pay tribute by offering flowers at the memorial stone and the graves of the late grandmothers Haksoon Kim and Bokdong Kim, honoring their spirits.

On the 14th, Cheonan City in Chungnam held a ceremony at the National Manghyang Cemetery to commemorate the Japanese Military Comfort Women Victims Memorial Day.

The Japanese Military Comfort Women Victims Memorial Day is a national memorial day established by law in 2017 to commemorate August 14, 1991, when the late Kim Haksoon became the first surviving comfort woman to publicly testify about her experiences, and to raise awareness of the comfort women issue both domestically and internationally.

Manghyang Cemetery in Cheonan is the resting place of 57 comfort women victims, including memorial monuments and the graves of the late Kim Haksoon and Kim Bokdong.

Cheonan City holds the annual Memorial Day event to raise awareness of the Japanese military comfort women issue at home and abroad, and to restore the dignity and honor of the victims.

On this day, Mayor Park Sangdon visited the National Manghyang Cemetery, laid flowers at the memorial monument and the graves of the late Kim Haksoon and Kim Bokdong, and paid tribute to the deceased.

In addition, the city will operate an online memorial hall until the 16th. By accessing the "Online Memorial Hall" on the Cheonan City Hall website, visitors can lay flowers and leave messages of remembrance.

Mayor Park Sangdon said, "The history of human rights progresses slowly, but it moves forward step by step," and added, "To ensure that this history is not repeated, we will never forget the truth of the Japanese military comfort women history and the values of women's rights and peace."