Removal of comfort women statue on public land in Berlin, Germany, may be delayed due to lawsuit filed by Korean group that erected it

The government ordered the removal of a statue of a girl symbolizing the comfort women issue that was installed by a Korean civic group in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, by the end of this month.
The government has filed a petition for a provisional injunction to halt the order with the administrative court in Berlin. It is expected that forced removal will be difficult while the lawsuit is pending, and the removal of the comfort woman statue may be delayed.
Regarding the statue of a girl symbolizing the comfort women issue, the Korean civic group "The Solidarity for Justice and Memory for the Resolution of the Issue of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery" which supports former comfort women,
Since the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery (Korean Council) set up the statue in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in December 2011, it has spread to countries around the world. The statue that the Mitte district is ordering to be removed was demolished on February 2 by the Korean civic group Korea Council for Women.
It was installed in September 2020. Before the council installed this statue, there were already two other statues in Germany, but both were on private property. However, this is the first statue to be ordered removed.
The statue's placement in a public place caused a stir. In October 2020, the Mitte district mayor ordered the statue to be removed, but the Korea Council resisted.
In the end, the mayor withdrew the removal order, and the ward set a deadline for the removal and allowed the installation during that period. At the end of last month, the ward asked the council to move the facility to private land, saying that the "approved deadline had expired." However, the council
The association refused, insisting that the statue be installed on the current public land. On the 24th of last month, the ward assembly passed a motion by majority vote to leave the statue in place, but the motion was not legally binding, and the ward mayor decided to leave the statue in place as originally planned.
The government has repeatedly requested the German side to remove the statue.
In the Japan-Korea agreement, the two countries promised to refrain from condemnation or criticism in the international community, and the installation of a statue symbolizing the comfort women issue in a third country is incompatible with this position.
The Japanese government is calling for the early removal of statues installed in various countries, including the statue of the Emperor. At the Japan-Germany summit held in April 2022, then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida asked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to cooperate in removing the statues.
It was extremely unusual for the prime minister to make such a request himself. However, if the statue is allowed to be erected in Germany, a major European country, it could lead to a false history taking 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 response was reportedly lukewarm. However, in May of this year, when the Berlin mayor met with then-Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, he stated that "it is important to bring about change," and indicated his intention to seek a solution.
The council responded by saying that the move was aimed at removing the statue, and that they had "succumbed to pressure from the Japanese government." The deadline for the statue to be installed on public land in the Mitte district expired on the 28th of last month. As mentioned above, the Korea Council has decided to move the statue to private land.
On the 30th of last month, the ward notified them to remove the building within four weeks after refusing to relocate it, and has indicated that it will impose a fine if they do not comply.
While attention was focused on how the council would respond, the council opposed the ward's removal order,
It was revealed that the association filed an injunction suit at the Berlin Administrative Court last week. According to the Sankei Shimbun, the association's representative Han Jung-hwa said in an interview with the newspaper on the 21st, "The lawsuit is
"It will take one to four months. During that time, they should not be able to forcibly remove it," he said. The council has previously said that the statue "is about sexual violence against women during wartime, and is not specific to Japan.
However, the base of the statue has a false statement in English that reads, "The Japanese military forcibly took countless girls and women from the Asia-Pacific region and made them sexual slaves," which criticizes Japan.
The council also said in a statement that it was "a violation of the Japan-Korea Agreement" in response to the Japanese government's request to remove the statue.
"The comfort women issue has been resolved through the will of the people, and the comfort women statue is an issue for Korea-Japan relations, which is a typical position taken by the Japanese government," he countered.
Therefore, the Korea-Japan agreement cannot be a basis for removing the comfort woman statue."