On August 6 at 11 a.m., a press conference was held at Hyangrin Church with the participation of the Korean Council and more than 670 civic organizations as a “Civil Society for the Realization of Historical Justice on the 80th Anniversary of Liberation.”
This year marks the 80th anniversary of liberation, the 120th anniversary of the Eulsa Treaty, and the 60th anniversary of the Korea-Japan Treaty. It is also the year of citizens’ victory, which stopped Yoon Suk-yeol’s insurrection. Yet, the heads of state institutions, appointed by the Yoon administration to advance historical denial, remained. Civil society condemned the administration’s rejection of the 2018 Supreme Court ruling on forced mobilization through the so-called “third-party repayment plan,” right-wing attacks on the Statue of Peace and the Wednesday Demonstrations, and insults to survivors of the Japanese military sexual slavery. The historical denial by Yoon and the far-right remains ongoing.
At the press conference, civil society organizations urged the current government, under President Lee Jae-myung, to honor its pledge to resolve unresolved historical issues. Demands included: ensuring legal prohibitions and penalties against acts that violate the human rights or dignity of survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery, truth-finding into crimes against humanity such as the 1923 Kantō Massacre and the atomic bombings’ Korean victims, and the immediate resolution of issues such as the repatriation of remains from the Josei coal mines.
They also urged the Korean government to demand that the Japanese government recognize the illegal occupation of Korea, to address crimes against humanity with principle, and to ensure that victims are not further marginalized by state policies that prioritize threatening military cooperation among Korea, the United States, and Japan.
Speaking at the event, Kang Kyung-ran, Director of the Solidarity Movement Department of the Korean Council, emphasized that with the International Memorial Day for the Japanese Military "Comfort Women" (August 14) approaching, the issue requires urgent resolution. She called for the annulment of the '2015 Korea-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Agreement', amendments to the Act on the Protection of Victims of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, and diplomatic efforts to enforce court rulings that awarded damages against the Japanese government in favor of victims.
At the press conference, civil society organizations urged the current government, under President Lee Jae-myung, to honor its pledge to resolve unresolved historical issues. Demands included: ensuring legal prohibitions and penalties against acts that violate the human rights or dignity of survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery, truth-finding into crimes against humanity such as the 1923 Kantō Massacre and the atomic bombings’ Korean victims, and the immediate resolution of issues such as the repatriation of remains from the Josei coal mines.
They also urged the Korean government to demand that the Japanese government recognize the illegal occupation of Korea, to address crimes against humanity with principle, and to ensure that victims are not further marginalized by state policies that prioritize threatening military cooperation among Korea, the United States, and Japan.
Speaking at the event, Kang Kyung-ran, Director of the Solidarity Movement Department of the Korean Council, emphasized that with the International Memorial Day for the Japanese Military "Comfort Women" (August 14) approaching, the issue requires urgent resolution. She called for the annulment of the '2015 Korea-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Agreement', amendments to the Act on the Protection of Victims of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, and diplomatic efforts to enforce court rulings that awarded damages against the Japanese government in favor of victims.