On Dec. 28, 2015, the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea surprised the world with the announcement of a deal designed to “finally and irreversibly” conclude the long-fighting dispute regarding the so-called “comfort women” who were sexually abused in Japanese brothels during World War II. However, it was far from what Korean citizens and comfort women had been waiting for. It was nothing more than a superficial agreement made without the acknowledgement of the comfort women, and many people were angry about this agreement. After the unacceptable agreement was made, a movie about comfort women that was based on the horrible experiences of the comfort women victims highlighted the importance of remembering history.

Meanwhile, The Argus met a young man named Shim Yong-seok who bicycled 6,000 km across America with one of his friends, Baek Deok-yeol, to share the awareness of the Korean comfort women to the whole world.

The Argus: Hello. Could you introduce yourself to The Argus readers?
Shim Yong-seok (Shim): Hello, I am Shim Yong-seok. I am student of Incheon University and my major is Chinese Language and Cultural Studies. Also, I am the leader of the 3A-PROJECT.

The Argus: What is the 3A-PROJECT?
Shim: 3A-Project was held from June 20 to Sept. 8, 2015. 3A signifies “Admit,” “Apologize” and “Accompany.” Its purpose is to “accompany” the so-called comfort women until the Japanese government “admits” their faults that were committed against the women and “apologizes” for it. Since America has a huge influence on the press, we chose to cross the American continent. For 80 days, we traveled from Los Angeles(L.A.) to New York and covered about 6,000 km. We went to the Japanese consulate in L.A. and demonstrated. While still in L.A., we lamented the death of Kim Yeon-hee, one of the surviving comfort women, at the monument to comfort women in front of the Glendale Central Library, and issued a proclamation to the Japanese government to wake them up about this problem.

The Argus: What made you start this project?
Shim: As I was a conscripted policeman on Dokdo, I thought we were always on the front line between diplomacy and national defense. During our military service, we became interested in Dokdo and the comfort women issue. Actually, I had a dream of crossing America by riding a bicycle, and rather than just doing it, I considered doing it in conjunction with awakening people with a social issue. About that time, I saw an animated movie called “Her Story” about comfort women. Rather than encountering this issue in text, this animation gave a big impression to me, and it played a decisive role launching of this project.

The Argus: What was the process in preparing for the project?
Shim: First, we went to a rally to figure out what kind of problem existed regarding the comfort women issue. Even after finishing our army service, we constantly worked on spreading the message about comfort women issue by visiting “House of Sharing,” a shelter for surviving comfort women, and also attended their rallies. As we went there and saw the problem in reality, it challenged me more to successfully finish our project. Moreover, we went to a nursing home in Yong-in, Gyeonggi Province, to meet one of the surviving comfort women. When she held our hands and from there, I felt something that I have never felt before, and I was ready to start our project at that point. We had visited many places to enlighten ourselves about the issue.

The Argus: What was the hardest and the most memorable event?
Shim: The hardest time was when I had a bicycle accident. I fell off the bicycle, and at that time, California was 110 degree Fahrenheit, so the road was extremely hot. As I fell to the ground, I chafed my entire arm. A scar from that day still remains. I could not move that day, so I took a rest and started again the next day. Another difficulty we faced was robbery. When we went to Dodgers Stadium in L.A. and we were down in the area where players play sports, someone took all our stuff. We lost our wallets and passports. However, we got over it because we still had a long way to go.

The Argus: How did you take care of financing your room and board?
Shim: We took care of the finance on our own and also received economic support from some companies. We received support from the Track Company, and sports equipment such as helmets, goggles and shoes were provided by the Rudy Project. Also, bicycles that were worth 1.5 million won were given to each of us. Aside from the economic support, we raised our own money to afford the airplane tickets and for emergencies. We made some money by recruiting part-time workers and selling the flowers during the graduation season.
In addition, for room and board, we mostly used a ‘warm shower’ service. It is the service provided for bicycle travelers. The service connects travelers and providers so that travelers can have warm and cozy room and board experiences for free. I was touched by the many people providing this service, and I will do the same for others in the future if I have a chance.

The Argus: What are your regrets, and what would you improve to be more successful with the second 3A-PROJECT?
Shim: What I regret is that we did not create much of an interest with the American press. Our message has been covered on the Korean media a lot such as Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), Aju news and additional major media networks, but we only went on the air three or four times in America. I think our effort was not enough to encourage people for the comfort women issue. For Americans, I think the comfort women issue was seen more as a regional problem and not as a problem regarding human values. I guess they have wondered why we brought this problem to their country and had not solved it on our own with Japan.
However, I think this problem should be seen as an international problem because it has to do with human rights. If we go again this year, I hope to create a project that foreigners can also join. Specifically, we are planning to ride bicycles together with willing foreigners from one particular area to another. It does not have to be the whole journey since they might feel burdened. Also, we want to recruit people who will take care of public relations and arranging appointments. Last time, we had a chance to meet Mike Honda, a member of U.S. Congress who led a resolution about the comfort women issue. However, we could not because we failed to meet at the right time. We would not want to miss this kind of chance next time so we are looking for the right person to help us.

The Argus: What kind of efforts do you think youth can make?
Shim: More than I expected, many youth are showing their interest and support through the purchase of bracelets, bags and other accessories to support the comfort women survivors. I also heard that there is an organization called the Peace Butterfly. They work nationwide to solve the comfort women issue. What surprised me was that when they held a marathon project, 450 participant vacancies had changed to full capacity in the blink of an eye. These acts are showing a hopeful view. Most importantly, I hope this problem is not merely being pursued in Korea, but also spreads abroad. Young people can tell their foreign friends about this problem and it can sooner expand from one person to a million people and more.

Regarding the comfort women issue that we are facing, young people̓s attention is needed more than ever. The agreement without the consent of the people directly involved is not an actual resolution. There are many young people, like Shim, trying to solve this issue through independent activities. Their efforts will be a great power and driving force in correcting the distortions of history.