Civic activists stage rallies over Kishida’s visit

Activists demand a formal apology from Japanese PM over historical disputes

Jang Ji-won, a civic activist under the Peace Butterfly Network and a 19-year-old student majoring in law at Sookmyung Women’s University, stages a one-person rally at her school campus on Thursday while holding a banner that reads, “Apology and reflecting on the past should come first before Japanese Prime Minister’s visit (to Korea).” (No Kyung-min/The Korea Herald)

With less than two days until a summit between the leaders of South Korea and Japan on Sunday, civic activists across the country took to the streets to stage protests, demanding a formal apology from Tokyo on Thursday.

In the late morning, a group of students from 12 colleges in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province was the first to hold rallies over Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Seoul.

Jang Ji-won, a 19-year-old student majoring in law at Sookmyung Women’s University, was one of the 12 students staging a single-person rally at their respective campuses, holding posters emblazoned with messages that read, “Apology and reflecting on the past should come first before Japanese Prime Minister’s visit (to Korea).”

“Fumio Kishida was formerly the Foreign Minister when the Japan-South Korea Comfort Women’s Agreement was signed in 2015, but I think he is coming to Korea this time to put an end to the discussion on the issues of comfort women and forced labor,” Jang told The Korea Herald, referring to the agreement between the two countries on the issue of comfort women where Japan paid 1 billion yen ($7,434,850) to the victims.

“I’m also here today to bring to people’s attention that another comfort women victim has passed away,” she said, adding that there are only nine survivors left.

Jang said she staged a one-person rally to convey that another instance of problematic diplomacy could possibly arise after the summit. She noted she is with the Peace Butterfly Network, a civic group of university students, which aims to raise awareness about such issues to their colleagues.

Apart from Jung, students from nine schools in Seoul, including Korea University, Ewha Womans University and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, as well as three other colleges in Gyeonggi, Gangwon and Jeju Provinces, took part in the rallies.

On the same day, some 30 civic activists based in Busan also protested in front of the comfort women statue installed near the Japanese Consulate in the port city, calling for Japan’s formal apology for its past wrongdoings.

“Kishida is visiting Korea without apologizing while Japan enslaved our people who suffered under 36 years of harsh Japanese colonization. Our government must demand an apology from Japan for its history and voice opposition regarding the Fukushima water contamination issue,” said Choi Sung-ho, who heads the Busan headquarters of the National Public Officials Labor Union.

Separately, members of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and progressive civic groups also jointly held a rally at the National Assembly, urging Yoon and Kishida to settle on long-standing issues, including an apology and compensation for Japan’s forced labor victims, as well as opposing South Korea, US and Japan’s trilateral military cooperation.

Korea still has lingering grievances against its neighbor, including Japan’s acts of sexual slavery during its 1910-45 rule of the Korean Peninsula and its use of Korean forced labor during World War II.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s summit with his Japanese counterpart Prime Minister Kishida is slated for Sunday. Kishida is on a two-day visit to Korea, where he is expected to discuss various issues, including security, economic cooperation and Korea-Japan relations.

No Kyung-min contributed to this article. --Ed.

By Park Jun-hee(junheee@heraldcorp.com)