Statement on the Removal of Statue of Peace in the Philippines
2019년 1월 3일
Statement on the Removal of Statue of Peace in the Philippines
The Korean Council demands the Japanese Government to terminate its actions to erase the history and make official apology and legal reparations to the Japanese military sexual slavery victims!
The Statue of Peace established in San Pedro City on December 28th, 2018, was removed after the Japanese Embassy remonstrated against it on December 30th. The Statue of Peace in San Pedro City was established through the participation of the Mayor of San Pedro City, the former Mayor of Jecheon City in South Korea, and citizens.
Two days after the establishment, the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines delivered an objection to the Philippine Government that “the establishment of a ‘comfort women’ statue in other countries” is “extremely disappointing” and “not compatible with the Japanese Government.”
The Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo noted that the statue “was commissioned using private funds and was built inside private property” and therefore “forms part of freedom of expression and the government cannot simply delimit or restrain the exercise of such right without a tenable purpose – the aforesaid right being protected by the Constitution.” Yet on December 30th, the Statue of Peace was removed.
This is not the first time that a commemorative statue for the Japanese military sexual slavery in the Philippines was removed. The statue established by the Philippine History Committee and support organizations in December, 2017 faced threat of removal through the Japanese Government’s “financial support.” After 4 months of its establishment, it was also removed all of a sudden at night, for an absurd excuse – renovation works of the water distribution system.
For almost 75 years since the end of World War II, the Japanese Government has denied its war crimes of the Japanese military sexual slavery, abandoned its responsibilities to officially apologize and pay reparations, and pressured victims’ governments through “financial support.” The victims’ governments also denied their responsibilities to restore the victims’ dignity and human rights for the sake of economic gains and national interests.
The Japanese Government must acknowledge why commemorative statues for Japanese military sexual slavery victims, including the Statue of Peace, are being established across the world. The statues represent citizens’ will to remember the lives of Japanese military sexual slavery victims and never repeat the war crimes that violate women’s human rights.
The statues also represent the demands that the victims and the international society, such as the UNHRC, have continuously made to the Japanese Government to carry out its responsibilities of the war crimes. The Japanese Government should be well-aware of such fact as well.
Regardless of its efforts to erase and distort history, the Japanese Government cannot change the fact that Japan committed war crimes. The Japanese Government’s actions to remove the Statue of Peace and deny history only demonstrate its essentials as the perpetrating nation of the war crimes.
The Japanese Government must immediately discontinue its actions to distort and deny history, including its inducement to remove the commemorative statues for the victims!
The Japanese Government must carry out its legal responsibilities to restore the victims’ dignity and human rights!
The Japanese Government must investigate the truth of the Japanese military sexual slavery, carry out official apology and legal reparations for the victims, and carry out its responsibilities for prevention through commemoration!
We also demand the victims’ governments to stop re-victimizing the victims for national interests, but actively engage in actions to restore the dignity and human rights of the Japanese military sexual slavery victims!
January 3rd, 2019
The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan