The “anti-Japanese hate” statue of a comfort woman girl continues to stand in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, but the scenery surrounding the statue has changed. At the Wednesday rally in front of the embassy organized by the “Justice Federation,” the successor to the “Para-Tokyo Association,” which supports the comfort women issue and was the most powerful anti-Japanese organization, a right-wing group denounced the group as “an anti-Japanese business con artist! The right-wing rally denouncing them as “anti-Japanese business frauds!
This week, for example, about 40 people gathered at the former rally, almost double the number at the latter. Moreover, at the latter rally, the Japanese flag was waving actively along with the Korean flag. The day before, a Japan-Korea joint seminar was held in Seoul to deny the theory of forced marriage and sexual slavery and to insist on “investigating the truth” about the comfort women issue, and the appearance of the Japanese flag in front of the embassy in support of Japan may symbolize the change.
However, this scene is ignored by the Korean press. Although former Seoul National University Professor Lee Yeong-hun, author of “Anti-Japanese Tribalism,” and Harvard University Professor Ramseyer, who denies the prevailing domestic theory on the comfort women issue, sent messages of support at the seminar, it seems that it will take some time before the “anti-Japanese assumption” in public opinion changes.
Meanwhile, former National Assembly member Yoon Mi-hyang, former head of the Para-Japan Cooperation Council, attended a rally in Japan to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake organized by the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea (Gasshogakuren) and was met with a strong response from the public. It is a hidden fact that she was pro-North Korea, sending a telegram of condolence at the time of Kim Jong-il’s death. The revelation of her true identity is one aspect of the changing situation. （Katsuhiro Kuroda)
