Comfort women statues have spread around the world; on the one hand, they are at risk of being removed, while on the other hand, new ones are being erected

On the 19th of this month, several Korean media outlets, including Yonhap News, reported that the comfort women statue in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, is in danger of being removed. Meanwhile, on public land on the western Italian island of Sardinia,
A new comfort women statue has been erected in the city of Hanoi. The Korean civic group that supports former comfort women, the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, announced that it will hold an unveiling ceremony for the statue on the 22nd.
The Japanese government has long been calling for the early removal of comfort women statues in various countries. The comfort women statue in Mitte was removed in 2020 by the Korea Council, a German civic group of Korean origin.
The statue was erected in September. At the time the statue was erected on public land in a district near the council's headquarters, there were already two statues in Germany, but both were on private property. However,
The statue's installation in a public place caused a stir. The inscription on the statue contains false statements such as "The Japanese military forcibly took countless girls and women from the Asia-Pacific region and made them into sex slaves."
The Japanese government urged the German side to remove it, and in October 2020, the mayor of Mitte issued an order to remove it. However, a civic group said, "This statue is a symbol of sexual violence against women during wartime.
The mayor eventually withdrew the order to remove the statue, and the ward extended the deadline for the statue to be installed until September 28, 2022. After that, the ward will not be able to remove the statue without legal grounds.
At the Japan-Germany summit held in April 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida asked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for cooperation in removing the statue.
It was extremely unusual for the Prime Minister to make such a request himself. However, if the erection of the statue is allowed in Germany, a major European country, a false history will take root in the international community.
However, the statue is under the jurisdiction of the Mitte district, and there is little room for the German government to intervene.
The comfort women statue has remained up until now, but when Berlin Mayor Wegner met with Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on the 16th of last month, he said, "It is important to bring about change."
The comment led to widespread speculation that the statue's removal was intended as a means to remove it. Meanwhile, the Korea Council, which set up the statue, strongly protested, saying that the government had "succumbed to pressure from the Japanese government."
According to Yonhap News, the Mitte district office announced on the 18th (local time) that it would end the ongoing negotiations over the inscription on the statue.
The government stated that it could not extend the installation permit because the talks had ended in failure. Yonhap said, "The statue is in danger of being removed about four years after its installation." As mentioned above, the statue is due to be demolished on the 2nd, when the extension period expired.
The monument has been allowed to remain in place since September 28, 2022, at the discretion of the Mitte district, but the permission period will expire in September of this year. The Korea Council said, "We will start by correcting the inscription and work on it immediately."
"We are also ready to discuss this issue," he said, calling for a forum for discussion with the ward office. Meanwhile, a new comfort woman statue was erected in mid-July on public land on the western Italian island of Sardinia.
The Justice Coalition proposed the installation to the local government in December last year, and received approval from the local assembly in January this year. The installation site will be on the beach, which is frequented by many tourists, and the council will hold an unveiling ceremony on the 22nd.
However, in the 2015 Japan-Korea agreement that confirmed the "final and irreversible resolution" of the comfort women issue, the two countries promised to refrain from condemnation or criticism in the international community, and did not approve the erection of comfort women statues in third countries.
The Japanese government has long been calling for the early removal of comfort women statues in various countries, as the issue of the comfort women issue is incompatible with this position. However, the statue was removed in December 2011 by the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, which is based in Seoul.
Since being placed in front of the museum, other statues have been installed both in Korea and abroad. According to Yonhap News Agency, the statue in Italy is the 14th to be installed overseas.