(image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Students from CheongShim International Academy donated a statue of a Dokdo sea lion to the Museum of Japanese Colonial History in Korea on Sunday.
Nineteen students from the Academy’s ‘Hamil’ club raised 4.5 million won to commission sculptor Kim Seong-rae to create the statue of a sea lion once native to the South Korean Dokdo islets.
More than 40,000 sea lions used to live around the islets, before they were exposed to reckless poaching during the Japanese rule of the Korean peninsula. Now, Dokdo sea lions have disappeared.
(image: Yonhap)
Moon So-yoon, head of the ‘Hamil’ club, said that “knowing ourselves is most important to prevent us from repeating our hurtful past,” adding that “the statue was designed to remember the long history of Dokdo that has been drifting away from our memories.”
Sculptor Kim Seong-rae said “the reason the Sonyeosang, or the Statue of Peace, is so important is because it helps us remember our painful past,” adding that “the students’ intention to remember the past by building a sea lion statue was very touching.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
