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Yesterday (14th), various events were held in various places in downtown Seoul to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the World Commemoration Day for the comfort women of the Japanese military.
The civic group that organized the event called for an official apology from the Japanese government and legal compensation for the victims.
Reporter Son Hyung-an reports.
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Despite the inclement weather, many citizens attended the cultural festival held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the World Commemoration of the Japanese Military Comfort Women.
The comfort women memorial day was designated in 2012 to commemorate the courage of the victims who raised the issue in the public forum after the late grandmother Hak-soon Kim, a former comfort women victim, first publicly testified on August 14, 1991.
The Justice and Memory Solidarity, which hosted the event, said that the comfort women victims actively testified against attempts to erase the truth and seal the victim's mouth, and evaluated that such a courageous act paved the way for the restoration of the victim's dignity and honor.
The Japanese government then evaded responsibility for the comfort women and called for an official apology and legal compensation for insulting the victims.
The comfort women also expressed their gratitude to the participants through a video.
[Lee Ok-seon/comfort women victim: Don't forgive them until they (the Japanese government) apologize...
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[Jung Yu-min / Seodaemun-gu, Seoul: I also thought that the voices of far-right groups could be pushed out only if people who were aware of the comfort women issue gathered together.]
In front of the Japanese embassy, 30 students in their teens and 20s gathered and held a picketing event with printed materials containing the testimonies of the comfort women victims.