Comfort Women Memorial Peace Garden is a memorial to the World War II comfort women, which is located at the Fairfax County Government Center in Fairfax County, Virginia. [1] [2] [3]
The unveiling ceremony was on May 30, 2014. [4] After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, butterflies, representing the comfort women, were released into the sky to honor the comfort women. There was also a dance performance to honor the comfort women. [3] Park Jeong-sook, director of the Peace Mission Dance Group, performed a dance at the unveiling ceremony. [5] [2]
Kang Il-chul, a former comfort woman, visited for the unveiling ceremony. [3] Kang touched the Memorial during the unveiling ceremony. [5] Kang said, "I thank Americans who love Koreans and my fellow Koreans. The Japanese government should make an apology immediately, and the Korean government should address the issue more aggressively." [3]
The first anniversary was on May 21, 2015. [2] During the first anniversary, the Peace Mission Korean Dance Group, directed by Park Jeong-sook, performed. [2]
Chung In-sook, who attended the first anniversary, said, "I was in the fifth grade during the Japanese occupation, and the teacher came to class and said one person was needed to work in a factory in Japan." Chung said, "We were told we would receive some form of compensation. One girl volunteered, she was 12 or 13, and never came back." [2]
The Memorial was a collaboration between the Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues, Inc., and Fairfax County, led by Sharon Bulova, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. [2]
The Memorial was unveiled after a campaign and fundraising by Korean American activists. [6] A group of Korean Americans led the project to establish the Memorial. [5]
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors said that the Memorial "will serve as a lasting reminder and an affirmation to the world that all crimes against humanity, such as human trafficking, will not be condoned or tolerated." [6] Sharon Bulova, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman, said, "Human trafficking is a serious issue on all corners of the globe, including right here in the United States and in Fairfax County." [2] Bulova said, "The purpose of this memorial is to commemorate the Comfort Women of World War II and draw attention to the broader issue of human trafficking occurring all over the world." [2]
Comfort women were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term comfort women is a translation of the Japanese ianfu, which literally means "comforting, consoling woman". During World War II, Japanese troops forced hundreds of thousands of women from Australia, Burma, China, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, East Timor, New Guinea and other countries into sexual enslavement for Japanese troops; however, the majority of the women were from Korea. Many women died or died by suicide due to brutal mistreatment and sustained physical and emotional distress. After the war, Japan's acknowledgment of the comfort women's plight was minimal, lacking a full apology and appropriate restitution, which damaged Japan's reputation in Asia for decades. Only in the 1990s did the Japanese government begin to officially apologize and offer compensation. However, apologies from Japanese officials have been criticized as insincere.
Winter Sonata is a 2002 South Korean television drama series, starring Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo. It is the second part of the season-themed tetralogy Endless Love drama series directed by Yoon Seok-ho. Filming primarily took place on the resort island of Namiseom and Seoul. It aired on KBS2 from January 14 to March 19, 2002, on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 (KST) for 20 episodes. It has also been adapted into an anime series and a stage musical.
South Korea, as Korea, competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States. The nation returned to the Summer Games after participating in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. 175 competitors, 116 men and 59 women, took part in 97 events in 19 sports. As the country hosted the next Olympics in Seoul, a traditional Korean segment was performed at the closing ceremony.
South Korea competed as Korea at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Athletes from North and South Korea marched together in the opening ceremony under the Korean Unification Flag. 281 competitors, 175 men and 106 women, took part in 144 events in 26 sports.
Meadowlark Botanical Gardens are botanical gardens and an event venue located at 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Court, in Vienna, Virginia.
Sharon Schuster Bulova is an American politician who was chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in Virginia. A Democrat, she was first elected chairman in a special election on February 3, 2009. Bulova was reelected in 2011 and again on November 3, 2015. She retired at the end of her last term in January 2020.
Koreatown in the borough of Palisades Park, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, is centered around the business district on Broad Avenue, which has been called a "Korean food walk of fame".
Wednesday demonstration, officially named Wednesday Demonstration demanding Japan to redress the Comfort Women problems, is a weekly protest in South Korea which aims at obtaining justice from the Japanese government regarding the large scale sexual slavery system established under Imperial Japan rule during World War II. The weekly protest is held in the presence of surviving comfort women on every Wednesday at noon in front of the Embassy of Japan in Seoul.
During and following the Korean War, the United States military used regulated prostitution services in South Korean military camptowns. Despite prostitution being illegal since 1948, women in South Korea were the fundamental source of sexual services for the US military and a component of Korean-American relations. The women in South Korea who served as prostitutes are known as kijichon (기지촌) women, also called as "Korean Military Comfort Women", and were visited by the US military, Korean soldiers, and Korean civilians. The prostitutes were from Korea, Philippines, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Indonesia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Kang Young-sook is a South Korean novelist.
The Korean American community in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area is the third-largest ethnic Korean community in the United States. Most Koreans in the area live in Virginia and Maryland suburbs.
Events from the year 1991 in South Korea.
Lee Yong-soo is a former comfort woman from South Korea. Lee was forced to serve as a sex slave during World War II by the Imperial Japanese Army. She is one of the youngest comfort women still living.
Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues, Inc (WCCW) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that advocates for the rights of wartime victims and their lawful reparation. Their mission is to contribute to the "eradication and prevention of sex crimes against women by promoting public awareness and education".
The Statue of Peace, often shortened to Sonyeosang in Korean or Shōjo-zō in Japanese and sometimes called the Comfort Woman Statue, is a symbol of the victims of sexual slavery, known euphemistically as comfort women, by the Japanese military during World War II. The Statue of Peace was first erected in Seoul to urge the Japanese government to apologize to and honour the victims. However, it has since become a site of representational battles among different parties.
The Fairfax County meals tax referendum is a 2016 referendum that proposes a 4% tax on all prepared meals sold in Fairfax County, Virginia. The 4% tax would be on top of the current 6% state sales tax, resulting in a total of 10% in taxes charged on all prepared meals. The referendum was voted on by Fairfax County residents in the general election on November 8, 2016.
The San Francisco Comfort Women memorial is a monument dedicated to comfort women before and during World War II. It is built in remembrance of the girls and women that were sexually enslaved by the Imperial Japanese Army through deceit, coercion, and brutal force. It is approximated that there were around 400,000 "comfort women" from Korea, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, the Philippines and other Asian countries. The site is located near the Saint Mary's Square, at the crossroads of San Francisco Chinatown and the Financial District. The statue "Comfort Women" Column of Strength, by sculptor Steven Whyte, is one of nine and the first sculpture placed in a major U.S. city to commemorate the comfort women.
The Peace Monument of Glendale is an exact replica of the original memorial dedicated to comfort women, the Statue of Peace. The statue is located in Central Park near the Glendale Public Library in Glendale, California, United States. The Glendale Peace Monument was funded and built in 2013 by the Korean American Forum of California, a non-profit human rights organization. The installation of the memorial happened shortly after Toru Hashimoto, former mayor of Osaka, Japan, expressed that comfort women were necessary to maintain discipline within the Japanese army during World War II. The unveiling of the statue was also considered a celebration due to the passing of a 2007 United States House of Representatives resolution, which urged the Japanese government to accept responsibility for their wartime crimes.
Golden Oldies is a South Korean music program for the middle-aged, who wish to sing along and dance to the nostalgic tunes reminiscent of memorable past. The program presented by Kim Dong-gun is aired every Monday at 22:00 KST on KBS 1TV.