(image: Pixabay)
SEOUL, March 31 (Korea Bizwire) — The public restrooms in New York City’s parks will no longer feature signs that inadvertently allude to comfort women, who were sexual victims exploited by the Japanese imperial military.
The Korean American Association of Greater New York said that the city will stop using the term “Comfort Station” in reference to the public restrooms in parks.
The city deemed that “Comfort Station” alludes to “Comfort Women,” or sex slaves forcibly mobilized by the Japanese imperial military during World War II.
As such, the signs will be replaced with expressions like “public restrooms” or “public restroom buildings.”
“The term ‘comfort station’ has a negative connotation for some in the Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities, due to the term’s use during World War II as a place where women were forced to provide sexual services,” Mark Focht, the chief operating officer for New York City Parks, wrote in the March 16 directive.
The change is the result of the persistent effort put in by the Korean American Association of Greater New York President Charles Yoon and then-acting Queens Borough President Sharon Lee.
In 2020, Yoon and Lee sent a letter to then-New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, asking him to change the signs at public restrooms.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
