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The comfort women memorial statue in San Francisco. Mayor Ed Lee signed a document on Nov. 22 officially accepting a donation of the statue. (taken from Steven White’s Facebook page)

Despite persistent opposition by the Japanese government, the mayor of San Francisco signed a document officially accepting a memorial statue representing the Korean comfort women. Kyodo News and other Japanese media outlets reported that Ed Lee, mayor of the city, signed a document on Nov. 22 stating that the city officially accepts the comfort women statue, which was set up in Saint Mary’s Square, a downtown park.

In September, the statue was set up through a donation to the city by the Comfort Women Justice Coalition (CWJC), a group that was largely organized by Chinese-Americans living in San Francisco. On Nov. 14, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution to accept and expand on a donation for the cost of maintaining the statue, and this resolution has now received the mayor’s final endorsement. The statue shows three girls – a Chinese, a Filipina, and a Korean – standing in a circle and holding hands, while Kim Hak-sun, the first former Korean comfort woman to testify about her suffering, looks on. Made by sculptor Steven Whyte, the statue is called “Comfort Women’s Column of Strength.”

The Japanese government fought against the installation of the statue to the very end, with even Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wading into the fray. On Nov. 21, Abe told the Japanese Diet that it was “extremely regrettable” that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors had passed the resolution and said that the Japanese government had asked the city’s mayor to exercise his veto power. The mayor of Osaka, which has been sister cities with San Francisco for 60 years, said he would end that relationship.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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