Peace Monument of Glendale

Last updated

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 [1] 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. [2] 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. [3] The unveiling of the statue was also considered a celebration due to the passing of a 2007 United States House of Representatives resolution, [4] which urged the Japanese government to accept responsibility for their wartime crimes. [5]

Contents

Appearance

The 1,100 pound bronze statue [5] monument is a replica of the original comfort women statue located in Seoul, South Korea. It depicts a girl sitting in a chair, with an empty chair beside her. [1] The chair represents aging survivors who have not yet received justice, as well as space for people to sit and reflect on how women and girls were subjected to become sex slaves during the Japanese wartime. [6] The statue of the girl herself represents many different aspects and effects of the violence and exploitation experienced by comfort women. For example, the statue portrays a girl with unevenly cut hair due to it being torn off. The unevenness and rough appearance of the hair represents the suffering comfort women endured as a result of being taken from their homes and forced into sex slavery. [6] Her clenched fist represent her resolve for justice, [2] as well as her resolve for endurance and defiance against her injustice. [6] Her bare unsettled feet represent being abandoned by the world, along with her inability to ground and settle herself, unable to completely trust her environment. [6] The bronze bird located at the top of her left shoulder symbolizes not only the connection between the living and the deceased, but as a symbol of freedom and peace. [6] The shadow behind the young girl is of an elderly woman, fragmented pieces of painful memories [6] symbolizing the passing of time with her trauma left unspoken. Finally, is the butterfly located at the center of shadow's body, right at her heart. This butterfly depicts the hope to be reincarnated with a new life in a different world, [6] but also that one day, whether in this life or the next, the sexually exploited victims of Japanese colonial rule, comfort women, will receive their apology.

Controversy

After Glendale City Councilman Frank Quintero announced plans for an identical Statue of Peace to be installed the Central Park of Glendale, it was met with particular opposition from Japanese entities. [7] Dozens of Japanese-Americans filled the City Hall chamber in opposition to the installation of the statue, with some claiming the comfort women narrative depicted by Koreans as manufactured or exaggerated. [2] Ultimately, however, the Glendale City Council agreed 4 to 1 to become the first United States city on the west coast to install a memorial to commemorate comfort women. [2] A lawsuit was then filed by two Glendale residents, Michiko Shiota Gingery and Koichi Mera together with the Global Alliances for Historical Truth-US Corp, a non-profit organization dedicated to “defending the honor of Japan”. They claimed the memorial would cause “irreparable injury” and cause discomfort to Japanese-American citizens who would be seen with disapproval and prejudice. [5] The plaintiffs also argued that the installation of the statue exceeds the power of Glendale, and infringes on the U.S. government's ability to handle foreign affairs. Other opponents of the statue expressed the idea that comfort women were being hailed as prostitutes.

Another point brought up by many opponents was the 2015 agreement between the South Korean and Japanese governments. The agreement stated that both governments would refrain from criticizing or accusing the other in the international community over the topic concerning comfort women. Under the agreement, Japan took responsibility for the issue of comfort women, but South Korean activists claimed the apology was vague and did not explicitly state that Japan took "legal" responsibility over the enslavement of comfort women. An additional point raised by activists states that Japan and South Korea made the agreement because of pressure from the U.S. government to form a united front for national security reasons. [8]

Other organizations known as the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Citizens League, Japanese American Bar Association and the Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress came out in defense of the statue. [5] The coordinator of the Korean American Forum of California, Won Choi expressed the importance of the statue because it reminds people of the rights that were violated, and to warn others about the vulnerability women face in time of war. [9] The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the case against the statue, validating its right to remain in the park. Julie Tang, chairwoman of the Comfort Women Justice Coalition, views this ruling as a victory for comfort women, as well as giving a green light for future statues to be placed all over the United States. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japan–Korea disputes</span>

There have been a number of significant disputes between various Koreanic and Japonic states. The two regions have a long history of relations as immediate neighbors that has been marked with conflict. One of the most significant issues is the Japanese colonization of Korea that began with the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910 and ended with the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comfort women</span> WWII-era forced prostitutes for Japan

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, a euphemism that 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 due to brutal mistreatment and sustained physical and emotional distress. After the war, Japan denied the existence of comfort women, refusing to provide an apology or 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, and Japanese government officials have continued to deny the existence of comfort women.

The New Japan–Republic of Korea Partnership towards the Twenty-first Century was a declaration made on October 8, 1998, between Japanese Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to reconfirm friendly relations between Japan and South Korea, as well as declare that both countries will discuss the future of Japan-South Korea relations in order to build a new Japan–South Korea partnership. This declaration is also called the Japan–South Korea Joint Declaration of 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murayama Statement</span> Political statement by Tomiichi Murayama on 15 August 1995

The Murayama Statement was a political statement released by former Prime Minister of Japan Tomiichi Murayama on August 15, 1995, officially titled "On the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the War's End".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park</span> Memorial to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is a memorial park in the center of Hiroshima, Japan. It is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to suffer a nuclear attack at the end of World War II, and to the memories of the bomb's direct and indirect victims. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is visited by more than one million people each year. The park is there in memory of the victims of the nuclear attack on August 6, 1945, in which the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was planned and designed by the Japanese Architect Kenzō Tange at Tange Lab.

Lai Đại Hàn is a term used in the Vietnamese language to refer to a person who was born to a Vietnamese mother and a South Korean father during the Vietnam War. The births of these people occurred because of South Korean involvement in the Vietnam War; approximately 350,000 South Korean soldiers were deployed to South Vietnam between 1964 and 1973. It is a politically significant term with regard to South Korea–Vietnam relations and carries a heavy social stigma due to the fact that wartime sexual violence was endemic in Vietnam when these people were conceived. An unknown number of Lai Đại Hàn births were the result of pregnancies from rape. The community has faced unequal and discriminatory treatment from the Vietnamese government, while the South Korean government has refused to acknowledge and address the rape of Vietnamese women during the conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wednesday demonstration</span> Weekly protest in Seoul, South Korea

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japan–South Korea relations</span> Bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan

Japan–South Korea relations refers to the diplomatic relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea. As the Sea of Japan and the Korea Strait geographically separate the two nations, political interactions date back from the 6th century when the kingdom of Baekje officially established relations with the Yamato Kingship of Japan. During the ancient era, the southern region of the Korean Peninsula often served as the closest port for economic trade and cultural exchange between the Japanese archipelago and mainland Asia. Such relations would continue by the late 19th century when both Japan and Korea undergo modernization from Western powers up until 1910, when Korea became a colony of Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korean Americans in Greater Los Angeles</span>

As of 2008, the 60,000 ethnic Koreans in Greater Los Angeles constituted the largest Korean community in the United States. Their number made up 15 percent of the country's Korean American population.

Lee Yong-soo is a former comfort woman from South Korea. Lee was forced to serve as a comfort woman during World War II by the Imperial Japanese Army. She is one of the youngest comfort women still living.

<i>Statue of Peace</i> Memorial statue in Seoul, South Korea

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, specifically, the period from the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War until the end of the Pacific War. 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.

<i>Spirits Homecoming</i> 2016 South Korean film

Spirits’ Homecoming is a 2016 South Korean period drama film written and directed by Cho Jung-rae. It was released in South Korea on February 24, 2016. Production of the film was halted several times due to financial issues, but was revived with additional 75,200 people contributing to the production fund. The screening date was delayed due to the lack of theaters willing to show the film. However, people bought tickets in advance and issued petitions for the movie to be screened in more cinemas. The first screening was March 1, the Anniversary of the Samil Independence Movement.

The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan is a Korean non-governmental organization advocating the rights of the surviving comfort women and lobbying the Japanese government to take actions of a full apology and compensation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Comfort Women Memorial</span> Memorial in the United States

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.

<i>Filipina Comfort Women</i> Bronze sculpture dedicated to Filipino comfort women

Filipina Comfort Women was a statue publicly displayed along Baywalk, Roxas Boulevard in Manila. Unveiled on December 8, 2017 and installed through the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) and other donors and foundations, it was dedicated to the Filipino "comfort women", who worked in military brothels in World War II including those who were coerced into doing so.

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.

The Japan–South Korea Comfort Women Agreement declared that the issue of the comfort women between Japan and South Korea was to be resolved finally and irreversibly. The agreement was announced by the Foreign Ministers of both countries and confirmed by the Prime Minister of Japan and the President of South Korea by a telephone call on 28 December 2015. In 2019, the agreement had been effectively shelved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comfort women in the arts</span>

Comfort women – girls and women forced into sexual slavery for the Imperial Japanese Army – experienced trauma during and following their enslavement. Comfort stations were initially established in 1932 within Shanghai, however silence from the governments of South Korea and Japan suppressed comfort women's voices post-liberation. Catalysed by the feminist-led Redress movement of the 1990s, the cause of comfort women has and kmsed since been better publicised – in part due to the role of the visual arts in promoting healing and the creation of activist communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Peace in Berlin</span> Monument for "comfort women" in Berlin

The Peace Statue is a monument located in Union Square in the Moabit district of Mitte, Berlin for the "comfort women". It also serves as a general symbol against sexual violence against girls and women. The monument was initiated by the "Action Group Comfort Women" of the Korea Verband and was unveiled on September 28, 2020. The statue has sparked a discourse on commemorative cultures among local, state, and diplomatic levels.

References

  1. 1 2 "Korean American Forum of California".[ dead link ]
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Glendale unveils "comfort women" statue". Daily News. 2013-07-30. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  3. ↑ Johnston, Eric (2013-05-15). "Hashimoto takes flak for sex slave rationale". The Japan Times Online. ISSN   0447-5763 . Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  4. ↑ "Text of H.Res. 121 (110th): A resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Government ... (Passed the House version) - GovTrack.us". GovTrack.us. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Berteaux, Anthony. "Why did this statue of a little Korean girl spark outrage?". sandiegouniontribune.com. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "KBS WORLD Radio". KBS World Radio . Archived from the original on 2018-07-02. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  7. ↑ "Statue Brings Friction Over WWII Comfort Women To California". NPR.org. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  8. ↑ Kumagai, Naoko (July 2016). "The Background to the Japan-Republic of Korea Agreement: Compromises Concerning the Understanding of the Comfort Women Issue". Asia-Pacific Review. 23: 65–99. doi:10.1080/13439006.2016.1195955. S2CID   156328373.
  9. ↑ "'Comfort Women' Statue Erected In Glendale Despite Heavy Opposition". LAist. Archived from the original on 2017-11-06. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
  10. ↑ "Supreme Court declines case over lawsuit to remove 'comfort women' memorial". NBC News. Retrieved 2018-03-13.

34°08′36″N118°15′13″W / 34.14335°N 118.25356°W / 34.14335; -118.25356

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.