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Participants in the 1,580th Wednesday Demonstration, which took place amid wind chills of minus 25 degrees Celsius outside the former Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Jan. 25, bundle up to ward off the cold.

Despite freezing temperatures and icy winds, this week’s Wednesday Demonstration for a resolution to Japan’s wartime “comfort women” system of sexual slavery took place outside the former Japanese Embassy in downtown Seoul on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s rally marked the 1,580th iteration of the weekly demonstration.

Hosted by the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan and organized by the Peace Nabi Network, this week’s demonstration kicked off with the customary performance of the song “Like a Rock.” Those participating in the rally called on the Korean government to demand a formal apology and legal compensation for the two countries’ historical issues from the government of Japan.

Participants in the 1,580th Wednesday Demonstration, which took place outside the former Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Jan. 25, call on the Korean government to demand that the Japanese government issue a formal apology and provide legal recompense about historical issues such as the “comfort women” system of sexual slavery.

Those present also criticized the recently unveiled amendments to the national curriculum that expand curricular autonomy as “erasing history.”

Organizers read a statement opposing the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s proposed resolution to the issue of Japan’s wartime forced labor conscription as tantamount to “exonerating” the Japanese government.

We’ve gathered photos of this week’s rally, which took place amid wind chills reaching 25 degrees below zero Celsius (-13˚ F).

A participant in the 1,580th Wednesday Demonstration, which took place outside the former Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Jan. 25, writes a picket sign reading, “We denounce the […] government’s obsequious push to improve Korea-Japan relations for the sake of a Korea-US-Japan military alliance.”

Photos and article by Yoon Woon-sik, senior staff writer

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