Exhibition to help ‘comfort women’ old and new

Links between the modern sex industry and the plight of women forced into sexual slavery during World War II are to be explored during events marking the 1,000th demonstration by Korean “comfort women.”

Women given this euphemistic title ― who were forced to work as prostitutes for Japanese soldiers during the Second World War ― have been protesting outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul every Wednesday since 1992.

Some of the surviving women will stage a protest outside the Japanese embassy in Joonghak-dong, Jongro-gu, from 11:45 a.m. on Dec. 14. The women who are now in their 80s, attend the weekly protests in spite of the long journey from their home at the House of Sharing in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. 

Volunteer guides at the House of Sharing have organized the “Liberating Herstories” multimedia art exhibition and events to discuss issues of human trafficking as well as violence and oppression against women.

“This is the first exhibition that will display the grandmother’s own works alongside other contributing international artists here in Korea,” said Kim Mi-kyoung, one of the organizers of the program to run at Caf Anthracite in Hamjang-dong, Mapo-gu, from Dec. 10-16.

“The diversity of the artworks will represent the global interest in this issue and hopefully the Korean audience will be inspired to be more active to solve this issue.

“We hope through events such as workshops and film screenings, people will come away with a better understanding of how the halmoni’s struggle is connected to current forms of sexual slavery and human trafficking both on a global scale and specifically in Korea. People will learn about the massive scale and severity of these systems as well as tangible ways to challenge and dismantle them.”

The bilingual program aims to raise awareness of the women known respectfully as “halmoni” (grandmothers) and their fight for an official apology and reparations from the Japanese government.

A workshop will be held on “The Sex industry in Korea today” by the former director of the Dasihamkke center for victims of sex trafficking on Dec. 14. The Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery will tell about “Activism with the Halmoni” on Dec. 15, and Durebang support center for current and former prostitutes will hold a session on “Filipino women in U.S. military camptowns” on Dec. 16.

Film screenings will include: “Women, War & Peace” on Dec. 12, “The Rape of Nanking” on Dec. 15 and a preview of a new documentary about comfort women “Within Every Woman” followed by a Q&A session with the director and producer on Dec. 16.

Photographs portraying the Korean sex industry today as well as paintings by former comfort women will be among the artworks displayed.

Fund-raising events on the opening and closing nights, will benefit the House of Sharing, Durebang and the Korean Council.

For more information go to the “Liberating Herstories” Facebook page.

By Kirsty Taylor(kirstyt@heraldcorp.com)