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| ▲ Lee Yong-soo (2nd from L), a former wartime sexual slavery victim, enters the Germany Embassy in Seoul on May 22, 2024, to deliver a letter opposing the planned removal of a symbolic girl statue in Berlin. (Yonhap) |
Berlin statue-ex-comfort woman
Ex-comfort woman asks German Embassy to help preserve girl statue in Berlin
SEOUL, May 22 (Yonhap) -- A former wartime sexual slavery victim on Wednesday asked the German Embassy in Seoul to help preserve a girl statue erected in Berlin years ago to symbolize the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery.
Lee Yong-soo, a 96-year-old victim of the Japanese military's sexual slavery during World War II, made the plea in a news conference held in front of the embassy, saying the Berlin statue should never be removed.
Activists set up the statue in a public place in Berlin's Mitte district in 2020 to internationally publicize the issue of wartime sexual slavery victims euphemistically called "comfort women." The news conference, also attended by pro-comfort women activists, came after Berlin's mayor has reportedly hinted at dismantling the statue.
The comfort women statue erected in many countries worldwide is intended to protect the countries and symbolize world peace without war, Lee said.
Following the news conference, Lee delivered a letter of protest also signed by 173 civic groups and 1,861 citizens to the German Embassy, which says Germany will lose the trust it has built in the international community, if the statue is removed.
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