ROK Government Trying to Stop Removal of Comfort Woman Statue in Germany
There are a lot of parks in Berlin, but it is pretty clear that the statue was put in this particular park to create diplomatic tensions with Japan:
South Korea voiced criticism Thursday over Japan’s call for the removal of a statue erected in Germany of a girl symbolizing Korean victims of wartime sexual slavery, calling it an act that goes against the spirit of its own apology.
Last week, Tokyo expressed regret over the recent installation of the statue on a public site near the Japanese Embassy in Berlin. The statue was erected by Korea Verband, a Berlin-based civic group with South Korean ties.
The issue drew attention as Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi requested it be removed when he held bilateral talks with his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, in Berlin last week.
“The installation of the statue is a voluntary move by the private sector. It is not desirable for the government to get diplomatically involved,” ministry spokesperson Kim In-chul said in a press briefing when asked about the statue. (…………..)
Korea Verband in Berlin said it received an order from the office of Berlin’s Mitte district on Wednesday to remove the statue by Oct. 14. According to the civic group, the office claimed that an inscribed epitaph as part of the installation has caused diplomatic tension between Germany and Japan.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Korea’s problem, always looking backward, not forward.
Perhaps they can move it in front of the Nork embassy, a relic of the Cold War that it is still there and open. Last time I was there I went to the security camera at the gate and told the Norks they were still number one. I wonder if they compared that image to the 21 year old version of myself they took on the DMZ?