Progressive Group Ends Sit-in Protest
Right-wing Groups Flood the Site with Placards and Disparaging Remarks
After a decade-long sit-in protest by a progressive civic group to guard the 'Statue of Peace,' hardline right-wing groups have taken over the site following the end of the protest. These groups began demonstrations next to the statue, holding the Rising Sun flag and asserting that the Japanese military's wartime sexual slavery is a fabrication.
On July 23, in front of the former Japanese Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul, the 1,710th regular Wednesday demonstration organized by the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance (Jeonguiyeon) was held, along with a counter-protest by right-wing groups.
Both sides of the statue were occupied by right-wing groups such as the National Action for the Abolition of the Comfort Women Act and the National Enlightenment Movement Headquarters, who were holding the Rising Sun flag and the Taegeukgi. The 'Anti-Japan Action' group, which had been active in front of the 'Statue of Peace' since December 2015, withdrew in protest of an investigation into alleged violations of the National Security Act. As a result, right-wing groups who had priority in reporting their rally took over the area next to the statue.
About 25 participants in the right-wing rally displayed banners reading "There is not a single victim of Japanese military sexual slavery" and "Stop the comfort women fraud now." They also held placards stating "The statue and the comfort women issue are a national scam" and "Comfort women were prostitutes," and made disparaging remarks such as "The comfort women issue is a complete lie from start to finish."
On the same day, Jeonguiyeon and about 120 citizens gathered on a road next to the National Tax Service building, about 100 meters from the statue. Lee Nayoung, chairperson of Jeonguiyeon, condemned the right-wing groups, stating, "Since 2019, these people have been disrupting the Wednesday demonstrations, denying the facts of Japanese military sexual slavery, and insulting and attacking the victims, and their outrageous behavior shows no sign of ending." She continued, "Now that Anti-Japan Action, which has protected the Statue of Peace for many years, has ended its protest, how long will we stand by and watch the shamelessness of far-right figures who boast, 'We have reclaimed our place'?"
Across from the statue, some Wednesday demonstration participants shouted protests such as "pro-Japanese collaborators" and "traitors." Police separated the two sides with barricades, and no physical clashes were reported.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
