NEVER FORGET. A girl statue symbolizing the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, euphemistically called "comfort women," is erected in Italy's Stintino for the first time. It is the 14th statue erected overseas. (Yonhap)
NEVER FORGET. A girl statue symbolizing the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, euphemistically called "comfort women," is erected in Italy's Stintino for the first time. It is the 14th statue erected overseas. (Yonhap)
ROME – A girl statue symbolizing the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, euphemistically called "comfort women," has been erected in Italy for the first time, a local activist group said Sunday.
The Statue of Peace or Comfort Women statue was opened to the public on Stintino Beach of Sardinia island on Saturday, according to the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery.
The Stintino statue was the second statue installed on public land in Europe after the first one was set up in Berlin, Germany, in 2020, the council said.
It also marked the 14th statue erected overseas. The first one was installed in Glendale, California, in 2013.
The statue's location is on a beach about 200 meters from Stintino's city hall, the group said, adding the area is frequented by visitors.
The council said it proposed the construction of the statue to the Italian city in December last year, and the mayor immediately welcomed the proposal.
The girl statue represents the need to promote universal human rights of women, the council quoted Stintino Mayor Rita Vallebella as saying at a ceremony unveiling the statue.
The statue symbolizes 200,000 Asian women, mostly Koreans, who were forcibly sent to front-line brothels to work as sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II.
The sexual slavery victims are one of the many thorny issues stemming from the 1910-45 period when Korea was a Japanese colony. (Yonhap)