The 15th of last month was the 71st anniversary of Korea’s National Liberation Day. A long time has passed since we were liberated from Japanese colonial rule (1910~1945); however, there are people who are still under the influence of Japan and have been abandoned by their mother country. They are the so-called “comfort women.”
“Comfort women” ? former sexual slaves for Japanese troops during World War II ? have waited a lifetime to receive a sincere apology from Japan, but the Park Geun-hye administration has failed them. The Park administration cut a deal to resolve the “comfort women” issue in December and launched a foundation for victims under the agreement of the shocking name “Reconciliation and Healing” in July without prior consultation with surviving victims.
However, there are people who have soothed the victims’ twice-wounded hearts: college students. Since the deal was signed in December, they have conducted sit-in demonstrations night and day, holding weekly demonstrations called “Saturdays’ Action.” The Argus observed a Saturdays’ Action meeting called in response to the establishment of the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation.

On Aug. 6 ? shortly after the foundation was launched ? The Argus visited the sit-in site of college students, right next to the statue of a female outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. Four huge police buses were standing in front of the site, while in the back there was a barrier for construction covered with thousands of yellow butterfly-like post-its conveying messages of support from citizens.
On the site, there were three students sitting under a parasol, exposing themselves to the breeze coming out of an electric fan. However, such measures did little to diminish the terrible heat that reached 35 degree Celsius high and led to the issuing of an excessive heat warning.
A 28-year-old male undergraduate who had been there since 4 a.m. said, “I have been participating in the sit-in since last winter, when we first made a group to protect the ‘comfort women’ statue right after the deal was made. I come and stay a day or a night here once or twice a week because it is a shift system, but nowadays this heat wave is by far the hardest moment.”

A half an hour before the “Prior Practice” promotion prior to the Saturdays’ Action students came by ones and twos. There were not only college students, but also a lone high school student.
An 18-year-old high school student from Paju, a city two hours away from Seoul, said, “I came here by subway to participate in the Saturdays’ Action. People often say that the second year of studying leads to success on the university admission tests; however, rightly resolving the ‘comfort women’ issue is way more important than getting into a good university in my opinion.”
While waiting for other students who had yet to arrive, they discussed one of the most popular mobile games among young people worldwide: “Pokemon Go,” which is an augmented reality mobile game made by Pokemon Company and U.S. Niantic. One of the students said, “Apparently, wherever a rare Pokemon appears, a crowd appears,” and added, “I hope that a rare Pokemon also appears here in front of the ‘comfort women’ statue and brings some people.”

When the clock hit 4 p.m., 10 or more students stood up and headed to nearby Insa-dong, one of Seoul’s most-visited tourist sites, to promote Saturdays’ Action, holding body-size hand-written posters, which read, “Pull out of the country-betraying ‘comfort women’ deal without recompense in terms of the law and seek a sincere apology from Japan,” and “Please come and join the weekly demonstration of Saturdays’ Action.”
As soon as they arrived at Insa-dong, they started to distribute leaflets condemning the Park administration for cutting an absurd deal. A rhetorical question, “President Park Geun-hye, which country are you working for?” was clearly written on it.
The reactions of citizens to the leaflet was mixed. Some refused to take it, others folded it in half immediately, and others carefully read it.
An elementary school girl asked her mother, “Isn’t it obvious that Park Geun-hye works for Korea where she is the President? But why are they asking such a question?” Her mother responded, “That is because President Park sided with Japan, not with the Korean former ‘comfort women.’ So our brothers and sisters are criticizing her.”
Soon after that a middle-aged woman gave the demonstrators a box of vitamin drinks to support them.
Thanks to such support they finished Prior Practice with a nice mood despite the fierce heat which had them dripping with sweat. However, The Argus found that the nearby wastebasket, 50 meters away from where they did their promotion, was full of crumpled leaflets.

After finishing Prior Practice, students went back to the sit-in site. Other students arrived meanwhile, and lunch boxes were waiting for them. Students huddled together and started to unpack the lunch boxes given by “Neighbor to Share,” a civic group based on Paju. The lunch boxes included a sandwich and a plum.
After finishing the sandwich hurriedly, they started to prepare for Saturdays’ Action. They set up a stage on a tarmac in front of the “comfort women” statue; they put up two amplifiers, a microphone and a plastic stool. Then they set up seats for an audience, spreading mats on the sidewalks next to and behind the statue.

As the clock struck 6 p.m., there was an audience of more than 20 people; most of them were college students. The host of the day, the head of the civic group “Gathering of People to Bring the World Together,” who is also an undergraduate, announced the start of Saturday’s Action on the tarmac stage.

Dance performance to protest song ‘Like A Stone’

A protest song titled ‘Like A Stone’ ? released by the protest song group ‘Ggot Da Jie’ meaning “whitlow grass” in Korean ? echoed through the air. Four students including the host danced to hopeful lyrics that read: “Despite a fierce rainstorm and despite any seduction, let us live like a stone without swaying. What is swayed by winds is a shallow-rooted reed. A deep-rooted stone is never swayed.”

Speech session 1

After the cheerful dance performance, an impassioned speech session followed.
A female undergraduate who regularly visits the sit-in to protect the ‘comfort women’ statue started her speech. “The purpose of the ‘comfort women’ statue is not only to remember the victims but also to pray for no more war that results in horrid atrocities such as sexually exploiting ‘comfort women,’” she said. “However, as if they want us to forget the ‘comfort women’ issue or as if they want another war, the Park administration is trying to remove the statue. Being afraid of losing it, we, college students, cannot leave it alone for even one second,” she added.
The second speaker, Kim Ji-yoon from “Hope Butterfly,” a university network for settling the ‘comfort women’ issue, said, “Sadly, both the Korean and Japanese administrations do not seem to know the true meaning of ‘reconciliation’ and ‘healing.’ These are not something that an assailant can force his or her victim to do. However, the two administrations are forcing former ‘comfort women’ to be reconciled and healed by the foundation they launched without prior consultation with them.”

Learning protest song ‘Thanks to My Friends’

After two speeches, organizers distributed sheet music to the audience. Then a male undergraduate came up on stage and started teaching another protest song titled ‘Thanks to My Friends;’ The song ? released by the protest song group ‘Our Country’? conveys messages of trust in fellowship and hope for a triumph.
The young man with remarkable singing skills sang the song sentence by sentence, which read: “I am here thanks to my friends with whom I have shared my contemplation about true life. Thanks to my friends, the struggle has been more meaningful and now triumph is right in front of us.” The audience sang along to the song, holding and waving each other’s hands.

Speech session 2

After the song learning time, the host stood again on the stage as the last speaker. “Like father, like daughter; As Park Chung-hee did before, President Park betrayed the nation again, by selling out those who suffered during the war,” he cried out. In 1965?20 years after Korea regained its independence from Japan?Park Chung-hee, President Park’s father and the former President, also had cut a similar deal settling the “comfort women” issue. The speaker encouraged his audience to shout with him: “The county-betraying Park administration should scrap the absurd deal even now!”

Singing performance to K-pop song ‘I Am a Butterfly’

After the host’s emotional speech passed, the young man who taught us a song came up on the stage again and began to sing a Korean pop song titled ‘I Am a Butterfly.’ After singing the song ? released by ‘Yoon Do-hyun Band,’ Korea’s most famous rock band ? he said: “The reason why I chose this song is because of the meanings that ‘butterfly’ has. Butterfly means not only the so-called ‘comfort women,’ but also the dearest wish that females all around the globe could break free from the cage of violence and oppression, and fly freely with open wings like a butterfly.”

 
The Saturdays’ Action closed with the chorus of the protest song they had learned before; ‘Thanks to My Friends.’ As the song came to its end, people left their seats one by one, and the silence took over the place instead. Only a few students stayed and kept looking after the statue.

Earlier this year, it was confirmed that the explanation of the “comfort women” was considerably shortened in a new history textbook for elementary school, published by the Park administration.
“A nation that forgets its past has no future” said Shin Chae-ho (1880~1936), a historian and an independence fighter during Japanese colonial rule. Even if “comfort women” completely disappear from the textbook, the future will be bright as long as there are people who struggle not to forget and strive to remember their past.

‘Comfort Women’ Issue Timeline in Recent Months
 
Dec. 28, 2015
Korea-Japan  'Comfort Women' Deal Concluded
The Korean government agreed to settle the comfort women issue
 "finally and irreversibly" under the condition of receiving one billion yen (approximately $8.3 million) to fund a foundation to be run by the Korean government to support the surviving victims. Furthermore, Korea promised to “take proper action regarding the statue of a female symbolizing the ‘comfort women’ located outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in deference to the institution’s stability and dignity,” meaning the statue would be removed.

July 28, 2016
Reconciliation and Healing Foundation Established
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family launched the Reconciliation and Healing Foundation for ‘comfort women’ based on the deal closed in December.
At the inauguration ceremony, people against the deal took over the hall and threw capsaicin powder at the chairman of the foundation.

Aug. 9, 2016
High-level Talks between Two Foreign Officials
Chung Byung-won, director-general of the Korean Foreign Ministry’s Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau, and his Japanese counterpart, Kenji Kanasugi, had a meeting in Seoul to discuss follow-up measures related to the foundation such as when and where to use the money given by Japan.