On South Korea's comfort women, it's interesting to hear they are reckoning with uncomfortable truths about their history. The story reminded me of an exhibition in Japan which was forced to close at the Aichi Triennale back in 2019 after the curators received threats from visitors and protests from local government officials about a sculpture in the show called 'Statue of a Girl of Peace', which drew attention to the history of comfort women in Japan. These were mainly Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese army during World War II. No one wanted to hear about it.
On South Korea's comfort women, it's interesting to hear they are reckoning with uncomfortable truths about their history. The story reminded me of an exhibition in Japan which was forced to close at the Aichi Triennale back in 2019 after the curators received threats from visitors and protests from local government officials about a sculpture in the show called 'Statue of a Girl of Peace', which drew attention to the history of comfort women in Japan. These were mainly Korean women forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese army during World War II. No one wanted to hear about it.
It’s astonishing to think that this statue would get such backlash so many years later
People don’t like to be made to feel uncomfortable
And they don’t like the implication that they should somehow take responsibility for the past
Exactly