Cultural Battle Over 'Comfort Women' Statue Heads to Court

http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/tcrmag/2014/06/2014-06-06d-tcrmag.mp3

She sits silently, with her hands folded in her lap and tears in her eyes. People have left fresh flowers around her. Someone placed a pair of silver ballet flats by her bare feet.

The lifelike bronze statue in Glendale Central Park honors the “comfort women." They were mostly Korean and Chinese women and girls forced to work the brothels for Japanese troops before and during World War II.

Historians estimate up to 200,000 women and girls were forced to become comfort women. There are 55 Korean comfort women alive today, according Phyllis Kim of the Korean American Forum of California, which helped pay for the statue and pushed for its installation in Glendale last July.

"This event has ruined their lives and ... they could not have a normal life as a woman. Many of them could not get married because of what they went through. Many of them did not have children," Kim said. which helped pay for the statue and pushed for its installation in Glendale last July.

"They were shunned by their own family and community when their past was known," Kim said.

The memorial is the first comfort women statue to be installed on public land in the western U.S.

Why Glendale? Kim said the city was willing to give up some public space for the statue.

"So many people are unaware of it,” Kim said, “so we thought it was important to raise the public awareness about it."

But the statue has caused a rift between some in the local Korean and Japanese communities.

A group of older Japanese-Americans is suing the city in federal court to try to get rid of it. Michiko Gingery, 90, is the lead plaintiff. She says the statue doesn't belong here.

"Things happened ... during the wartime, between Japan and Korea. And I don't know why they brought such a statue against Japan for this during-the-war story about comfort women,” Gingery said. Any location in the U.S., Gingery added, would be inappropriate for the statue.

Gingery said the statue ruins relations with Japan the city has established through its sister city program. The program lists Gingery’s hometown of Higashiosaka, Japan, as one of seven sister cities. Goseong and Gimpo, Korea, are also Glendale sister cities.

The lawsuit was filed earlier this year by Gingery, a group against recognizing the comfort women, and its president, L.A. resident Koichi Mera.

The suit argues Glendale has infringed upon the federal government's power to conduct foreign affairs.

Constitutional law professor Aaron Caplan of Loyola Law School in L.A. does not think that argument will hold up in court.

“The U.S. Constitution says that state and local governments can't enter into treaties,” Caplan said. “It says that they can't make war. There's a handful of other things that it says they can't do."

He added: “It doesn't say anything about, 'You can't put up a statue.'"

Caplan said there are many occasions where cities put up statues that some people might not like.

“There might be some war memorials, which people opposed because they were opposed to that war, or they might just oppose a statue because they think it's ugly," Caplan said. “The way we resolve that is through the political process. You elect new people to the city council who are going to put up a statue that you think is better."

The story of the comfort women is not well known in the U.S., but it's taught in school in Korea, where Kimberly Choi of Glendale grew up. Choi stops by the statue whenever she gets a chance, to straighten up and water the fresh flowers.

Choi said the statue makes sure that the next generation does not forget what happened.

"It's hope," Choi said. “It's a symbol of peace."

Kim said the statue brings awareness to a human rights issue. She pointed out that sexual slavery continues today in other parts of the world, making the comfort women statue relevant.

"No matter ... to whom it happened, where it happened, when it happened, it is important to remember and work together," Kim said, adding that is the best way to prevent similar things from happening again.

The Koreans want a formal apology from Japan's government, issued by their national legislature. A Japanese prime minister and several other Japanese officials have apologized for the comfort women in the past, but conservative political activists in Japan are lobbying to retract those apologies. Several Japanese officials have asked Glendale to remove the statue.

The battle over the statue runs deeper than legal arguments, said Asian studies expert Tom Plate of Loyola Marymount University. Plate said Japan's culture of “ichiban” — or perfection — makes it difficult for that country to apologize because an “ichiban” country could not have lost World War II.

“So it is a source of incredible identity crisis for Japan, that is has lost, and therefore, they feel shamed — the shame that they lost," Plate said. “And so when reminders that they lost pop up in front of them, their reaction is very primal. They go into denial, particularly in the older generation."

Plate said that makes it impossible for Japan to bow down and apologize in the way the Koreans would like.

“And they want the Japanese to bow so deeply. Well, if you bow too deeply in Japan, it means you are a subservient of the person you're bowing to," Plate said. “You bow deeply to the emperor."

U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) recently visited the Glendale statue for the first time.

“I think what Glendale has done here is quite beautiful and moving, and it will provoke people who come to this park to ask about this part of history and hopefully lead to the education of another generation," Schiff said. "That's our best hope of avoiding these kind of terrible chapters in the future."

The story of the comfort women resonates with many immigrants who've come to California with similar stories of survival, Schiff said.

Both sides of the dispute over the statue are waiting for a resolution in federal court.