First Privately Funded Comfort Woman Statue Erected in Korean Hospital | Be Korea-savvy

First Privately Funded Comfort Woman Statue Erected in Korean Hospital


Jung Tae-gi, director of Gimhae Seoul E.N.T. Hospital.

Dr. Jung Tae-gi, director of Gimhae Seoul E.N.T. Hospital.

GIMHAE, South Korea, Feb. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – A comfort woman statue was erected on Monday in an otolaryngology (ear-nose-and-throat) clinic in Gimhae, marking the first time that a monument of the sort has been set up indoors, and funded entirely by an individual, hospital director Jung Tae-gi. 

The 13-million-won ($11,473) statue resembles most of the other comfort woman statues, depicting a girl wearing a hanbok, the traditional Korean dress. But the girl is clenching her right fist while opening her left, which, according to sculptor Byun Jae-bong, represents both anger, and forgiveness and reconciliation. 

At the base of the statue are footprints of military boots depicting the human rights violations carried out by the Japanese military. 

“Only a sincere apology and self-reflection can turn the rage of these young girls into forgiveness and reconciliation,” said Byun.

comfort woman

comfort woman 3

Image Credit: Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>