Right-wing groups wave Japanese flag, call 'comfort women' a fraud at memorial statue in downtown Seoul
Published: 23 Jul. 2025, 17:35
![Far-right groups waving Japanese flags protest in front of the Statue of Peace in central Seoul on July 23, denouncing Japan's wartime sexual slavery during its 1910-45 colonial rule over Korea as a fabrication. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/07/23/51f2a517-8f19-4ff7-99de-a8c7436fe26a.jpg)
Far-right groups waving Japanese flags protest in front of the Statue of Peace in central Seoul on July 23, denouncing Japan's wartime sexual slavery during its 1910-45 colonial rule over Korea as a fabrication. [YONHAP]
Far-right groups waving Japanese flags took over the protest site in front of the Statue of Peace in central Seoul on Wednesday, denouncing Korea’s “comfort women” as a fabrication — days after a progressive civic group ended its nearly decade-long sit-in at the monument honoring victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule over Korea.
"Comfort women" is a euphemism for women, largely Korean, who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during World War II.
As of October 2024, there were approximately 154 Statues of Peace across Korea. The statues memorialize Japan's wartime victims of sexual slavery.
At noon on Wednesday, the 1,710th weekly rally organized by the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan took place near the former site of the Japanese Embassy in Jongno District, central Seoul.
At the same time, members of far-right groups, including two whose names translate to Abolish the Comfort Women Act Action and the National Enlightenment Movement Headquarters, staged counterrallies near the statue. They waved Japanese flags and held signs reading, “The statue and the comfort women are a hoax.” Police estimated about a dozen people attended the far-right rallies.
The site occupied by the far-right groups had been the location of a sit-in protest led by the civic group Anti-Japanese Action since December 2015, in opposition to the Park Geun-hye administration’s agreement with Japan on the comfort women issue. Anti-Japanese Action ended its protest last Saturday after its leader, surnamed Jeong, was arrested and released in a National Security Act investigation, prompting backlash from the group.
The Korean Council for Justice held its rally about 150 meters (164 feet) from the statue on Wednesday, drawing around 100 participants, according to police.
“Since 2019, these individuals have continued to disrupt our rallies, deny the suffering of former comfort women and insult both the victims and participants,” said Lee Na-young, chair of the council. “Even today, they wave the Japanese flag and hold another far-right rally.”
In April, the second subcommittee on remedying human rights violations under the National Human Rights Commission recommended that the Jongno Police Precinct take more proactive measures in response to far-right counter rallies. The commission requested that police intervene when excessive noise or defamatory remarks are made to obstruct the Wednesday rallies or dishonor comfort women victims.
Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY MOON SANG-HYEOK [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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