김승연
| 2026-02-01 12:02:18
Lee-sex slave statues
Lee berates far-right group under probe for insulting statues of girl representing victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery
By Kim Seung-yeon
SEOUL, Feb. 1 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung decried Sunday a far-right civic group under investigation over insulting statues of a girl representing victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, calling the group "beasts that must be isolated" from society.
Lee made the remarks in a social media post after police launched an investigation into Citizens' Action for the Abolition of the Comfort Women Law and its leader for defaming the deceased and hurling insults, as well as violating laws related to assembly and demonstrations.
The group is accused of hanging banners bearing insulting phrases outside some high school campuses in southern Seoul, where statues of a girl honoring the victims are erected, and holding unauthorized rallies near the schools late last year.
The banners say, "Are they keeping a comfort women statue on campus to provide guidance into prostitution?"
"No Koreans, much less no human being, should be capable of calling victims of wartime sexual slavery -- war crime victims -- prostitutes," Lee said in the post.
"They were forcibly dragged to the battlefield, sexually assaulted multiple times every day under the constant fear of death and ultimately massacred. How can anyone wearing the face of a human be so cruel to their suffering?"
Lee went on to ask rhetorically how they could afford to find the "enthusiasm, money and time" for such cruelty, stressing that freedom of expression has its limits.
"Just as my freedom exists, so too does the freedom of others," he said. "Every community must uphold order, morality and the rule of law. ... Those who harm people like beasts must either be made to live as humans or be isolated (from society)."
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