ClydeR
01-09-2017, 10:15 AM
SEOUL, South Korea — Japan recalled its envoy to South Korea on Friday to protest a statue commemorating Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during World War II, in the latest sign that ties between Washington’s two key Asian allies were again deteriorating over the bitter historical issue.
“The Japanese government finds this situation extremely regrettable,” Yoshihide Suga, chief cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said during a news conference in Tokyo, referring to the placement of the statue outside the Japanese Consulate in Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, last week.
More... (http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/world/asia/japan-south-korea-ambassador-comfort-woman-statue.html)
Surviving former sex slaves and their advocates angered Japan in 2011 when they installed the first in a series of comfort woman statues, in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. The bronze, life-size statue, of a barefoot girl in traditional Korean dress sitting in a chair, was placed so that diplomats would see it as they left the office. It is still there, with Korean activists guarding it around the clock to ensure that it is not removed.
Since then, activists have put up dozens more such statues, in South Korea and abroad. But the one in Busan was only the second to be installed near a Japanese diplomatic mission.
Shouldn't people in South Korea be able to erect any statue they want? Why is it any of Japan's business?
“The Japanese government finds this situation extremely regrettable,” Yoshihide Suga, chief cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said during a news conference in Tokyo, referring to the placement of the statue outside the Japanese Consulate in Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, last week.
More... (http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/world/asia/japan-south-korea-ambassador-comfort-woman-statue.html)
Surviving former sex slaves and their advocates angered Japan in 2011 when they installed the first in a series of comfort woman statues, in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. The bronze, life-size statue, of a barefoot girl in traditional Korean dress sitting in a chair, was placed so that diplomats would see it as they left the office. It is still there, with Korean activists guarding it around the clock to ensure that it is not removed.
Since then, activists have put up dozens more such statues, in South Korea and abroad. But the one in Busan was only the second to be installed near a Japanese diplomatic mission.
Shouldn't people in South Korea be able to erect any statue they want? Why is it any of Japan's business?