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Course:CSIS200/2024/Statue of Peace: Decolonizing the Identity, Body, and History of "Comfort Women"

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Introducing the Statue of Peace

What Is the Statue of Peace?

Statue of Peace in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. The photo was taken to celebrate the 1,400th Wednesday Demonstration in 2019.[1]

The Statue of Peace is a life-size bronze statue of a teenage girl in traditional Korean clothing. It represents "comfort women," a euphemism for women and girls coerced into sexual slavery in Japanese military brothels before and during World War II.[2] On December 14, 2011, the Statue of Peace was installed in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, to mark the 1,000th Wednesday Demonstration.[3] Started in 1992, the Wednesday Demonstrations are one of the longest-running protests in the world, where surviving Korean "comfort women" and their supporters gather every Wednesday in front of the Japanese Embassy to call for justice.[4] For decades, they have demanded that the Japanese government make an official apology and proper reparations, which include Japan's acknowledgment of state-sponsored militarized sex trafficking, truth investigations, legal compensation, punishment of those responsible, and accurate recording of this crime in history textbooks.[4]

Notes on Language
The term "comfort woman" directly translates to the Japanese euphemism ianfu (慰安婦). The fact that sexual enslavement the women experienced is termed as "comforting" for Japanese soldiers highlights how colonial and gendered the word is in nature. Under international human rights law, the official terminology for "comfort woman" is "the victim of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery." However, throughout this page, I will call these victims "comfort women," firstly because it is the most legible to the international audience. But more importantly, the women embody many roles – such as survivors, living witnesses, history teachers, and peace protesters – that go far beyond being labelled as just "victims." Note that the term will always be in quotation marks to convey my unease about using a term coined by colonizers.

Memorial Statue as a Decolonial Project

The history of "comfort women" cannot be separated from the broader context of Japanese imperialism and its use of sexuality as a tool of domination over colonized people. Within this framework, the Imperial Japanese military established a "comfort woman" system to exploit colonial women as sexual objects for the occupying soldiers.[5] For surviving "comfort women," decolonization means imagining the possibility of reclaiming their agency and dignity lost under colonial rule. In this project, I will demonstrate how the Statue of Peace embodies the decolonization of the identity, body, and history of "comfort women." First, I examine how surviving women have long refused to be defined as passive victims through the Wednesday Demonstrations. As a memorial commemorating the tireless spirit of Wednesday Demonstrations, I show how the Statue of Peace represents survivors' efforts to reshape their identity as active agents of social change. Second, I look at the role of this monument in subverting the postwar Japanese portrayal of "comfort women" as erotic, willing prostitutes. By analyzing the visual elements of the Statue of Peace, I illustrate how it restores humanity to the hyper-sexualized bodies of "comfort women." Finally, I explore how some ultra-nationalist groups in Japan seek to erase the history of "comfort women" and how the Statue of Peace actively resists this erasure through public memory. But before discussing all this in-depth, let us first understand the history of "comfort women."

Contextualizing the Statue of Peace

Who Were the "Comfort Women"?

This photograph was taken on September 3, 1944 by Pvt. Hatfield, a member of the U.S. Army's 164 Telecommunications Photographic Corps.[6] It depicts four "comfort women" captured by Chinese forces in Songshan, Yunnan Province, China. The photo gained significant attention during the 2000 Women's International War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo, where Park Young-Sim identified herself as the pregnant woman on the far right.

"Comfort women" refer to the women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery to serve the Japanese military during the Asia-Pacific War (1931-1945).[7] Estimates vary, but many scholars agree that around 200,000 women were taken to so-called "comfort stations."[8] Most of these women were from Korea, but many also came from other countries under Japanese colonial rule at the time, including China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and the Dutch East Indies.[9] The majority of these women were between the ages of 13 and 17, with the youngest being 11.[10] Many died from physical abuse, malnutrition, sexually transmitted diseases, or injuries from bombings, while others have taken their own lives or been killed by Japanese soldiers.[8] The cumulative number of "comfort women" victim-survivors registered with the Korean government is 240, and as of 2023, only 9 of them are alive.[11]

How Did the "Comfort Stations" Work?

"Comfort stations" were state-sanctioned military brothels established and operated by Japanese military officers and bureaucrats.[7] They were established in the vast area of Asia and beyond, wherever the Japanese military occupied or fought.[7] The purported goal of these systems was to prevent the mass rape of "respectable" Japanese women at home and to limit the spread of venereal diseases.[12] Therefore, young and unmarried women in the colonies, who were assumed to be virgins and free of sexually transmitted diseases, were ideal targets for recruiters.[13] Taking advantage of the widespread poverty in occupied territories under Japanese colonial rule, many recruiters deceived the women by promising good-paying jobs in factories.[13]

Testimonies of the Victims

"One day, the Japanese police called and told me to come because they had a job for me. They said that I would be preparing meals and mending torn clothes for the soldiers. I did not want to go, but the police said that all men and women must come because the country was at war."[14] – A Taiwanese victim

"The Japanese soldiers were forcing me to have sex with several of their colleagues. Sometimes, 12 soldiers would force me to have sex with them, and then they would allow me to rest for a while, then about 12 soldiers would have sex with me again… You cannot say no as they will definitely kill you."[14] – Maria Rosa Henson (Philippines)

"How did I feel? I felt as if we were taken here to be killed. I could not but weep. No one talked. All were weeping… Soldiers came to my room, but I resisted with all my might. The first soldier wasn't drunk, and when he tried to rip my clothes off, I shouted, "No!" and he left. The second soldier was drunk. He waved a knife at me and threatened to kill me if I didn't do what he said. But I didn't care if I died, and in the end, he stabbed me."[14] – Kimiko Kaneda (South Korea)

About the Video
This short animated film titled Herstory recounts the harrowing experiences of a Korean "comfort woman," Chung Seo-Woon.[15] It reveals a poignant story of her survival amid fear, violence, and death inside the "comfort stations" during WWII. The purpose of illustrating this video is to provide the audience with a visual understanding of the women's suffering and to convey the power of personal narratives, as the film is produced with the actual voices of Chung.

Imperialism, Colonization of Women's Bodies, and Decolonization

From a broader perspective, the history of "comfort women" is situated within the context of modern Japanese imperialism. Scholars of sexuality and colonialism have explored how closely sexuality is tied to modern empire-building.[16] As Durba Mitra explains, sexuality was central to the imperial goals of expanding territories and subjugating colonized people.[17] To illustrate this point, Robert Kramm writes, "[Imperial] Japanese military organized a system of military prostitution and forced women, predominantly from Japan's colonies, into sexual slavery in brothels in garrison towns and along the front lines" (p. 43).[5] These brothels, namely "comfort stations," were set up to satisfy the sexual desires of occupying soldiers.[12] However, they also symbolized the Japanese empire's dominance over the bodies of colonized subjects. Such gendered violence was justified by dehumanizing colonized women, defining them as inherently inferior. Mitra identifies this as part of the "colonial knowledge project," where colonizers produced hierarchical ideas about whose bodies were deemed "other" and, therefore, less worthy of respect.[17] In this case, the "othered" are women from Japan's colonies whose bodies were treated as objects of "comfort" for male Japanese soldiers during the empire's military campaigns. Decolonization then means reimagining and creating new knowledge systems by recentring historically excluded and "othered" voices.[18] The Statue of Peace encapsulates this decolonial effort by redefining the colonized identity, body, and history of "comfort women." Now, let us see how the monument achieves each of these.

Reconstructing Women's Colonized Identities

Wednesday Demonstrations: From Victim to Defiant Agent

As African thinker Frantz Fanon writes, "Decolonization never takes place unnoticed, for it influences individuals and modifies them fundamentally… It brings a natural rhythm into existence, introduced by new men, and with it a new language and a new humanity" (p. 36).[19] Essentially, for Fanon, decolonization is not just a physical liberation from colonial rule but a fundamental transformation into a "new" human being. This idea resonates with "comfort women" survivors, for they have long fought to see themselves in a "new" way that moves beyond simply victims. Their primary platform for this transformation has been the Wednesday Demonstrations, which began in 1992 and continues to this day in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.[4] On one Wednesday in 2006, survivor Lee Yong-Soo defiantly shouted, "Listen, you bastards! We're here again. This is our 700th time out here. I can't die until the resentment, shame, and dishonour inside me from having suffered at the hands of you bastards when I was just 16 is released" (p. 27).[4] By refusing to forgive the "bastards" until she feels enough, Lee is performing a powerful act of decolonization that Fanon describes. That is, she rejects to remain a passive or meek victim and instead reconstructs her identity as an uncompromising protestor who uses her own language to dictate terms of redress. Lee is certainly not alone. Many other survivors have also used these weekly protests to mourn and reclaim what colonial-gendered violence took from them – their agency, voices, and dignity.[4] When we consider that the Statue of Peace was erected to commemorate the 1,000th Wednesday Demonstration, we can see how this memorial represents surviving women's tireless efforts to reimagine themselves as active agents of justice. In other words, the creation of a "new humanity" that Fanon describes as central to decolonization is embodied in the Statue of Peace.

Survivors at the Wednesday Demonstrations
Slogans say, "Denounce colonial atrocities" and "Correct colonial history," in 1992[20]
Grandma Song Shin-Do attended in 1998[21]
Taiwanese grandmas Lu Manmei and Jin Hyeon attended in 2003[22]
Grandma Park Woo-Deuk attended in 2004[23]
Grandma Lee Yong-Soo attended in 2019[24]
Grandma Lee Ok-Seon attended in 2019[25]

Reimagining Women's Colonized Bodies

Hyper-Sexualization of "Comfort Women" in Japanese Pop Culture

Postwar Japanese popular culture has long perpetuated depictions of "comfort women" as highly sexualized bodies. In 1947, World War II veteran Taijiro Tamura published Shunpuden (Story of a Prostitute), a novel that tells a tragic love story between a Japanese soldier and a Korean "comfort woman."[3] The woman is portrayed as a voluntary prostitute who joins a front-line "comfort station" to sleep with numerous men so that she can forget her former lover.[3] Tamura's novel was made into a film by director Seijun Suzuki in 1965, where the "comfort woman" is further eroticized as a pure object of sexual desire through male-dominated sex scenes.[3] In 2013, Japanese manga artist Miu Ichikawa painted another hyper-sexualized picture of "comfort women."[26] In this comic panel, a "comfort woman" seductively removes her clothing while calling a Japanese soldier by his name. The soldier's flushed face is zoomed in on to show how sexually aroused he is by her provocative gesture. In the next panel, she climbs on top of the soldier and kisses him, completely naked. Overall, the comic explicitly emphasizes her nudity to arouse male sensuality. Such erotic images of "comfort women" in popular media erase any acknowledgement of the sexual enslavement that defined the reality of "comfort women." In this way, "comfort women" are constructed in the Japanese collective imagination as hyper-sexual, willing prostitutes.

To view Ichikawa's depiction of a "comfort woman," see page 167 of the final appendix to this article

Restoring Humanity Through Desexualization

Statue of Peace in Berlin.[27] With growing international support since 2011, more copies of the Statue of Peace have been erected overseas, including in the United States, Canada, Australia, China, and Germany.

What the Statue of Peace fiercely rejects is this eroticized image of "comfort women" in the fantasy of colonial male subjects. Seated upright with clenched fists on her lap and lips tightly closed, the image of an unyielding girl strikingly contrasts with the hyper-sexualized representation of "comfort women" in Japanese popular media. According to the sculptors, they decided to design a girl rather than an elderly survivor because "when they ["comfort women"] were taken away and experienced horrible things, they were girls, not grandmothers" (1:39).[28] The girl depicted in the Statue of Peace seems dignified. There is no trace of sexuality to be objectified in the girl gazing at the Japanese Embassy, determined to receive a formal apology. In this sense, the Statue of Peace subverts postwar Japanese distortions of victimized women as voluntary prostitutes and establishes an undeniable case for Japan's wartime crime against humanity. The sculptors continue, "We wanted her [the statue] to not appear fragile, even though she was fragile; not sad, though sad; not angry, though angry" (14:22).[29] This emotional complexity subtly captured in the girl's face is what brings full humanity back to the "comfort women." By focusing on her layered emotions – strength in vulnerability, sadness tempered by resilience, and anger balanced with dignity – the statue challenges the portrayal of "comfort women" as sexual objects, instead recognizing them as complex, whole persons. Ultimately, the Statue of Peace restores the lost dignity of colonized women by desexualizing their bodies.


About the Video
This episode offers a comprehensive exploration of the sculptors' artistic journey, creative processes, and the ongoing issues surrounding the Statue of Peace.[29] Consider watching the full episode if you're interested, but I've provided a timeline for your convenience. I've also bolded two key parts that I believe are relevant to understanding some symbolic meanings in the Statue of Peace and how it was created in the first place.
2:06-3:29 Meet the Sculptors Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung
3:30-7:06 Introduce Different Peace Monuments
7:07-8:24 Symbolic Meanings in the Statue of Peace
8:25-15:04 The Sculptors' Impetus & Journey for Making the Statue of Peace
15:05-17:45 Testimonies of "Comfort Women" & The Japanese Government's Response
17:46-19:28 Fundraising for Making the Statue of Peace
19:29-25:54 The 2015 Agreement & The Japanese Government's Efforts to Remove the Statue of Peace
25:55-30:56 Youth Activism for Protecting the Statue of Peace
30:57-34:05 Public Performance of Care for the Statue of Peace
34:06-37:00 Survivors' Reaction to the Attempts to Take Down the Statue of Peace
37:01-37:52 Artworks by "Comfort Women" Survivors

Remembering Women's History Through Public Memory

Ongoing Struggles Over Historical Narratives

In 1985, feminist theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak provocatively asked, "Can the subaltern speak?"[30] By "subaltern," Spivak meant colonized people, particularly colonized women. According to Spivak, it is very difficult, if not impossible, for the "subaltern" to have a voice because of dominant forces marginalizing them. This critique may explain the almost half-century silence surrounding the history of "comfort women." After Japan's colonial rule ended in 1945, survivors returning home could not speak up about their experiences in "comfort stations," largely due to the patriarchal norms in East Asian societies that stigmatized victims of sexual violence.[31] When Kim Hak-Sun broke the silence in 1991 and inspired other survivors to come forward with her stories, they were met with another violence: dismissal and denial.[31] Despite their testimonies, the Japanese government and far-right politicians denied military involvement in forcibly recruiting women into "comfort stations."[32] In 2007, for instance, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated, "There is no evidence to prove there was coercion, nothing to support it."[33] Similarly, ultra-nationalist groups in Japan insisted that "comfort women" were paid prostitutes who "volunteered" to work in military brothels to escape poverty.[2] Today, organizations like the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform echo similar sentiments, lobbying to drop references to "comfort women" from history textbooks.[34] These persistent efforts to suppress the voices of "comfort women" and erase their history underscore the ongoing challenges of decolonization. As Spivak reminds us, formerly colonized people struggle to have their voices heard.

Resisting Erasure Through Public Remembrance

Statue of Peace with scarf and blanket[35]

The Statue of Peace then stands as an important site for keeping the narratives of "comfort women" alive in public memory. As Khrebtan-Hörhager and Kim suggest, material and visual artifacts in public spaces encourage audiences to engage in "active remembering."[36] The Statue of Peace exemplifies this idea, as many studies highlight how visitors interact with it as more than an artwork.[3][4][29] Many refer to the statue as "her," not "it," treating the bronze figure as if it is a family member or friend.[3][4] For example, some dress the statue in scarves and hats during the winter or place a raincoat over its shoulders on rainy days, while others leave flowers and letters.[4][29] These small yet empathetic acts of care illustrate how visitors actively commemorate the history of "comfort women" through emotional and physical interactions. Performance studies scholar Diana Taylor provides a compelling lens for understanding this occurrence. Taylor introduces the concept of "embodied memory" to describe how memories, histories, and values are passed from one generation to the next through physical and experiential acts.[37] This "embodied memory" explains how the visitors' caring behaviours toward the Statue of Peace help the public memorialization of "comfort women." By inviting acts of concern and affection, the Statue of Peace allows for a collective remembrance of the atrocities of war and the violation of women's rights. As such, the statue transforms into a powerful decolonial space that can resist the erasure and forgetting of the voices of the formerly colonized.

Closing Remarks

In a nutshell, the Statue of Peace encapsulates decolonial efforts by reimagining the identity, body, and history of "comfort women." As a memorial commemorating the Wednesday Demonstrations, the statue reshapes the identities of "comfort women" from passive victims to empowered agents of justice. Moreover, the depiction of the "comfort woman" as an unwavering girl in the statue directly resists the hyper-sexualized image in Japanese popular media, restoring humanity and dignity to survivors. Last but not least, the statue enables the public remembrance of "comfort women" history through acts of care, ensuring their voices are not erased or forgotten. The Statue of Peace, therefore, is not only a memorial mourning the suffering of "comfort women" but also serves as a catalyst for dialogue about resistance to colonial legacies and the ongoing fight against gender-based violence. Its influence extends far beyond its physical presence, inspiring collective action toward justice and reconciliation.

Author's Bio

My name is Jaylene, and I'm a second-year student at UBC majoring in Political Science with a minor in Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice. Here, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on my relationship to this project. I was born and raised in Korea, where I spent most of my life. While living there, I had several experiences taking to the streets alongside the survivor grandmothers and their advocates. I still remember the chants from the crowd – "Legal Responsibility!" and "Official Apology!"– directed at the Japanese government. As a teenage girl at the time, I struggled to process the visceral feelings of sorrow, resentment, and injustice. Though I have no direct experiential connection to this history of sexual violence, I care deeply about this issue and feel a responsibility to remember and redress the grandmothers' grievances.

Ironically, the Statue of Peace cannot stand in peace at this moment because of constant threats of removal.[38] With their demands and wishes unfulfilled, survivors and their supporting citizens continue to demonstrate every Wednesday to this day. To me, all this is a stark reminder that justice is never given but something that should be vigorously fought for. As more and more survivors age and pass away, the importance of preserving their memories becomes even more pressing. I hope my project has contributed to this vital work of remembrance by amplifying their voices, educating others about their stories, and enabling a deeper understanding of the resilience they embody.

References

  1. ↑ Republic of Korea. (2019).1400th Wednesday demonstration [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/42438955@N05/48533824762
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Yoon, R. (2018). Erecting the "comfort women" memorials: From Seoul to San Francisco. De Arte, 53(2-3), 70-85. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043389.2018.1481913
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Chun, D. (2020). The battle of representations: Gazing at the peace monument or comfort women statue. Positions: Asia Critique, 28(2), 363-387. https://doi.org/10.1215/10679847-8112482
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Son, E. W. (2018). Embodied reckonings: "Comfort women," performance, and transpacific redress. University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.8773540
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kramm, R. (2017). Comforting the occupiers: Prostitution as administrative practice in Japan at the end of World War II. Sanitized sex (1st ed., pp. 29-77). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780520968691-004
  6. ↑ Hatfield. (1944). Photo of Japanese military "comfort women" in Songshan, China [Photograph]. Seoul Metropolitan Archives. https://archives.seoul.go.kr/item/116
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Choi, C., & Yang, H. (Eds.). (2023). Voices of the Korean comfort women: History rewritten from memories (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003275473
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Min, P. G. (2021). Introduction: Background information about Japanese military sexual slavery and the redress movement for the victims. In Korean "comfort women": Military brothels, brutality, and the redress movement (1st ed., pp. 1-18). Rutgers University Press. https://doi.org/10.36019/9781978815001-003
  9. ↑ Joo, H. S. (2015). Comfort women in human rights discourse: Fetishized testimonies, small museums, and the politics of thin description. The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 37(2-3), 166-183. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2015.1028836
  10. ↑ Min, P. G. (2021). General information about the "comfort women" system. In Korean "comfort women": Military brothels, brutality, and the redress movement (1st ed., pp. 69-85). Rutgers University Press. https://doi.org/10.36019/9781978815001-007
  11. ↑ Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. (2023, May 5). Minister of gender equality and family condolences death of Japanese military 'comfort women' victims. https://www.mogef.go.kr/nw/enw/nw_enw_s001d.do?mid=mda700&bbtSn=711052
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Takeuchi-Demirci, A. (2021). Sexuality and the Japanese empire: A contested history. In C. Schields, & D. Herzog (Eds.), The Routledge companion to sexuality and colonialism (1st ed., pp. 65-77). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429505447-5
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Soh, C. S. (1996). The Korean "comfort women": Movement for redress. Asian Survey, 36(12), 1226-1240. https://doi.org/10.2307/2645577
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Asian Women's Fund. (n.d.). Testimonies of the victims. https://www.awf.or.jp/e3/oralhistory-00.html
  15. ↑ Kim, P. (2019, February 11). Herstory student version [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVY0Sl2kyR4&t=560s
  16. ↑ Schields, C. (2022, February 8). Intimate interventions: Global histories of sexuality and colonialism. NOTCHES. https://notchesblog.com/2022/02/08/intimate-interventions-global-histories-of-sexuality-and-colonialism/
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Mitra, D. (2021). Sexuality. In The Keywords Feminist Editorial Collective (Ed.), Keywords for gender and sexuality studies. NYU Press.
  18. ↑ Kulpa, R., & Silva, J. M. (2016). Decolonizing queer epistemologies: Section introduction. In G. Brown & K. Browne (Eds.), The Routledge research companion to geographies of sex and sexualities (1st ed., pp. 139-142). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315613000
  19. ↑ Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth (C. Farrington, Trans.). Grove Weidenfeld.
  20. ↑ The Korean Council (1992). The 8th Wednesday demonstration [Photograph]. The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. https://www.archivecenter.net/wednesdaydemo/archive/srch/ArchiveNewSrchView.do?i_id=54020
  21. ↑ The Korean Council (1998). The 330th Wednesday demonstration [Photograph]. The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. https://www.archivecenter.net/wednesdaydemo/archive/srch/ArchiveNewSrchView.do?i_id=29831
  22. ↑ The Korean Council (2003). The 567th Wednesday demonstration [Photograph]. The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. https://www.archivecenter.net/wednesdaydemo/archive/srch/ArchiveNewSrchView.do?i_id=29839
  23. ↑ The Korean Council (2004). The 604th Wednesday demonstration [Photograph]. The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. https://www.archivecenter.net/wednesdaydemo/archive/srch/ArchiveNewSrchView.do?i_id=29834
  24. ↑ The Korean Council (2019). The 1408th Wednesday demonstration [Photograph]. The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. https://www.archivecenter.net/wednesdaydemo/archive/srch/ArchiveNewSrchView.do?i_id=27819&srch_total=&pageIndex=1&i_clssfrm=3&i_clssprov=&i_clsssub=&i_clssage=&orderColumn=I_ID%2520DESC&view_type=&pageUnit=10
  25. ↑ The Korean Council (2019). The 1409th Wednesday demonstration [Photograph]. The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. https://www.archivecenter.net/wednesdaydemo/archive/srch/ArchiveNewSrchView.do?i_id=27740&srch_total=&pageIndex=1&i_clssfrm=3&i_clssprov=&i_clsssub=&i_clssage=&orderColumn=I_ID%2520DESC&view_type=&pageUnit=10
  26. ↑ Berndt, J. (2016). 'Comfort women' comics, multi-faceted: Revisiting the 2014 manhwa exhibit in Angoulême from the perspective of manga studies. Orientaliska Studier, (147), 143-169.
  27. ↑ YunHo LEE. (2015). Peace statue comfort woman statue [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/137346712@N07/22609310033
  28. ↑ Daegu MBC News. (2024, August 14). Meet the sculptor couple who created the Statue of Peace [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H19H-crYLcc&t=125s
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 Arirang TV. (2016, February 29). The innerview (ep.196) Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung, the sculptors_full episode [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oabuV0Cqg7g&t=907s
  30. ↑ Spivak, G. C. (1985). Can the subaltern speak? Speculations on widow sacrifice. Wedge, (7-8), 120-130.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Myadar, O., & Davidson, R. A. (2021). Remembering the 'comfort women': Geographies of displacement, violence and memory in the Asia-Pacific and beyond. Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography, 28(3), 347-369. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2020.1715351
  32. ↑ Kimura, M. (2016). Unfolding the 'comfort women' debates: Modernity, violence, women's voices (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137392510
  33. ↑ Onishi, N. (2007, March 2). Abe rejects Japan's files on war sex. New York Times.  https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/world/asia/02japan.html?searchResultPosition=1
  34. ↑ Ku, Y. (2014). Japanese history textbook controversies, 1995-2010: Transnational activism versus neo-nationalist movement. Pacific Focus, 29(2), 260-283. https://doi.org/10.1111/pafo.12030
  35. ↑ Duggadugdug. (2012). Comfort woman statue outside Japanese embassy in Seoul [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/57126048@N00/8116789016
  36. ↑ Khrebtan-Hörhager, J., & Kim, M. (2020). Re-membering comfort women: From on-screen storytelling and rhetoric of materiality to re-thinking history and belonging. The Quarterly Journal of Speech, 106(4), 427-452. https://doi.org/10.1080/00335630.2020.1828606
  37. ↑ Taylor, D. (2003). The archive and the repertoire: Performing cultural memory in the Americas (1st ed.). Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822385318
  38. ↑ Hildebrandt, T. (2024, October 21). Berlin's peace statue faces removal amid Japanese pressure. The Diplomat. https://thediplomat.com/2024/10/berlins-peace-statue-faces-removal-amid-japanese-pressure/
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