Comfort Woman Statues, The Work of Art That’s Going Down

The comfort woman statues, the art that reminds us of the struggles of many young women across many countries particularly in Asia during World War II is in danger of going down. The debate over South Korea’s ‘comfort women statues remains to add tension to both nations (Japan and South Korea).

The friction between both countries goes back to the first part of the 20th century when, during the WWII, many young women and even girls had been forced to sex slavery servicing the Japanese military men at that time. This scenario is true for most countries in Asia however a larger percentage is coming from Korea.

The tension had once again sparked over an art, known as the Peace Statue, a figure of a young girl that represents the struggles that these women endured in those years under the Japanese regime. The latest statue has popped in many buses in South Korea.

The Work of Art That’s Going Down

The tiny bronze figure describes a girl sitting on a chair, gazing head-on, frontally, having an appearance of willpower. The bronze figure is barefoot with a clenched fist and a cropped hair. She’s dressed in a hanbok (Traditional Korean dress) and to her side is an empty chair. The statue stands for the many women (now in their late senior years) who were once called the comfort women.

The United Nations reports there are about 200,000 young women and girls who were abducted from their villages to serve as comfort women throughout the WWII. The torment of these women came to an end in 1945, when the Japanese military was overthrown by the United States. There are just a number of comfort women who to this day are still alive.

Koreans today feel the hurt and the pain that these women have to endure that as a reminder of this torturous event. A replica of this figure had been created and spread throughout many parts in Korea and extended as far as the United States, Australia, and Germany. However, Japan is not happy about these statues and asked that these statues should go down.

Despite Japan’s request to put the statues down, many Koreans refuse to put this down. The government of Korea couldn’t mandate this because the statue had been built and placed by a non-government organization advocating the rights of Korean fellows. Japan says that the statues break the deal that was made between two nations in 2015.