Source: World Wide Web
[Global Network Report] Japan's "Sankei Shimbun" broke the news on the 10th, and sources revealed that when German Prime Minister Schoerz visited Japan on April 28 to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, Kishida directly proposed to Scholz that he urge the demolition of the statue of "comfort women" in Berlin. In this regard, South Korea's "JoongAng Daily" said on the 11th that Japan has repeatedly urged the German side to remove the statue of the young girl symbolizing the victims of the Japanese military comfort women, but it is very rare to be directly conveyed by the prime minister, and it is conceivable that the Japanese government will further exert further pressure in the future.
The statue of the "comfort women" involved was placed in berlin's Mitte district on September 28, 2020 by the Association of Koreans in Germany with the approval of the relevant competent authorities of the Berlin municipal government, in order to commemorate the humiliating history of the "comfort women" forcibly conscripted by the Japanese army during World War II. At the time, the Mitte government said the statue's placement was in line with the trend of commemorating world war II history and liquidating global colonial history. Around this matter, the Japanese side quickly made representations to the German side, urging the German side to remove the statue. In order to avoid "getting into diplomatic disputes", the city of Berlin was scheduled to demolish it on October 14, 2020, but many South Korean civil society groups and local citizens demonstrated near the statue, and the demolition order was withdrawn.
According to sources, during the meeting with Scholz, Kishida Directly proposed to him that he "regrets that the statue of the comfort women is still placed there and is completely at odds with Japan's position," and Kishida also urged the German side to remove the statue of the "comfort women" that was located in Berlin. A relevant person from the Japanese government also told the media, "So far, Japan has negotiated the demolition through various channels, but this time the prime minister's direct communication will become a strong signal." ”
The Sankei Shimbun also mentioned that the pedestal of the statue of the "comfort women" involved reads: "During World War II, the Japanese army forcibly abducted countless girls and women from the Indo-Pacific region and made them into sex slaves." The media claimed that "these accounts are contrary to the facts." In this regard, a senior official of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared in an interview with the media that "we cannot set aside accounts that contradict the facts." Negotiations were also made with civic groups (where statues were erected), but it did not go well. The goal of demolition will be achieved with the momentum of general mobilization. ”
In response to this matter, South Korea's "JoongAng Daily" said on the 11th that Japan has repeatedly urged the German side to remove the statue of the young girl symbolizing the victims of the Comfort Women of the Japanese Army, but it is very rare to be directly conveyed by the prime minister. After the Mitte government extended the display period of the "comfort women statue" to September 2021 until September 28, 2022, after the Mitte government set the display period for the statue to be set at 1 year after the withdrawal of the order to remove the statue, local German citizen groups are working to permanently preserve the statue. The report also said that in this case, it is foreseeable that the Japanese government will exert further pressure on this in the future.