hankyoreh

A young woman holds a sign saying “Protect me” while taking part in a human statue relay protesting the recent South Korea-Japan comfort women settlement in front of the Japanese consulate in Busan. Busan has no comfort woman statue like the one opposite the Japanese embassy in Seoul

Though the midday sun was beaming down, a cold wind was blowing, and the hand of the young woman in the wooden chair was turning blue, she was sitting up straight in the chair, holding a placard.

The placard showed a picture of another young girl, the one whose statue, located across from the Japanese embassy in Seoul, symbolizes the comfort women. The placard said, “Protect me by saying no to this humiliating and traitorous comfort women treaty!” Next to the woman, there was another chair, this one empty.

It was noon on Jan. 12 at the rear entrance to the Japanese Consulate General in the Choryang neighborhood of Busan’s East district, and Kim Ju-yeon, 22, had become a human version of the statue in Seoul.

Currently, there are no comfort women statues made of bronze in Busan. But since Jan. 6, a protest has been taking place from noon until 1 pm each day in which people become the statue of the young girl. Kim was the third person to impersonate the statue, following Jeon Ok-ji, 17, and another woman identified only by her surname, Kwon, 23.

“I decided to become the statue after feeling uncontrollable rage over the outcome of the comfort women talks between South Korea and Japan,” Kim said.

“The Japanese government failed to give the former comfort women a proper apology, and the Park administration made a hasty agreement based on political calculations. Instead of listening to the voices of the victims, our government threw them under the bus.”

The human statues are not lonely. Pedestrians gave the human statue a thumbs-up as they passed by. A passenger in a taxi paused to give the human statue some thick gloves and sympathized with the discomfort of being outside in the cold weather.

Another person put something to drink on the empty chair next to the human statue. Bae So-yeong, 39, who works in a shop nearby, draped a shawl on the shoulders of the human statue. “We’re all angry,” Bae said.

The human statue relay will be continuing until South Korea and Japan scrap the comfort women agreement.

“We’re looking for more people to participate on social media,” said Jin Gun-ho, 35, director of public relations for the Busan branch of an organization called Becoming One People.

Kim, who is the human statue for the day, has a message she would like to convey to the former comfort women. “Young people are going to take the lead in working to resolve this issue. We hope that you all stay healthy!”

By Kim Young-dong, Busan correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]