Fairfax County’s New Comfort Women Memorial Courts Controversy

By Tamara Treichel

Fairfax, Virginia – A simple granite boulder flanked by two turquoise butterfly benches has been silently sitting on the grounds of Fairfax County’s government office.

The boulder seems quite inconspicuous, perhaps even humble. But the boulder and benches bear a greater significance.

It is a Comfort Women Memorial, dedicated to thousands of women, euphemistically called “Comfort Women,” who were forced to provide sexual favors to the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

The plaque on the memorial reads: “May these ‘Comfort Women’ find eternal peace and justice for the crimes committed against them. The Comfort Women’s countries of origin are “Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Netherlands and East Timor.”

But are the women known as “Comfort Women” and their families finding peace and justice?

Fairfax County’s Comfort Women Memorial, which was unveiled on May 30, may be a step in that direction.

When asked what the butterfly benches symbolize, Grace Han Wolf, a Korean American from the Herndon Town Council, told Asian Fortune that the butterflies are a symbol for the Comfort Women and “signify hope and freedom from discrimination.”

Wolf also said that the funding for the memorial, the peace garden and its upkeep came from – and are still coming from – private donations, which are sent to Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues, Inc. (WCCW), a D.C.-metro based NGO.

Wolf explained that Fairfax County is home to many Korean Americans who support this initiative, therefore it was chosen as a home to another Comfort Women memorial, next to half a dozen across the country.

“Originally, WCCW approached the County to seek permission to place a memorial in one of the Fairfax County parks, possibly in the Annandale area, where many Korean Americans live and own businesses. After a meeting with Chairman Sharon Bulova, where WCCW members, myself and Delegate Mark Keam attended and presented the story of the Comfort Women, the Chairman suggested the group consider placing this memorial on the County Government grounds, per the Chairman’s privilege,” Wolf told Asian Fortune.

WCCW was planning to unveil the Comfort Memorial Peace Garden during AAPI Heritage month, Wolf said – yet bad weather and the elected officials’ schedules had to be taken into consideration. She said Congressman Mike Honda wished to attend as May 30 was the only date open on his calendar, but he ended up not being able to attend in person. He and Canadian Senator Yonah Martin sent taped congratulatory remarks instead.

Wolf also shared her impressions of the unveiling ceremony. “The mood was respectful and moving, the ceremony was beautiful, many people learned a lot about the history of the Comfort Women and about the Korean American community,” Wolf remembered.

“There was a lovely traditional Korean dance and processional, as well as a live butterfly release as part of the program. Speakers included myself, Delegate Mark Keam, WCCW President Christine Choi and Fairfax County Chairman Sharon Bulova, who also presented a proclamation to WCCW for the Garden.”

To Wolf, the part of the ceremony that left the deepest impression was hearing from an actual Comfort Women survivor, Kang Il-Chul, now well into her eighties, who flew in from Korea to attend the ceremony in person.

Wolf said that according to a CNN article from February 2014, there are only 55 Comfort Women alive in Korea today. Of those, she said, five live abroad and some of them live together in Korea in the House of Sharing, which was founded in 1992 through funds raised by Buddhist organizations and various socio-civic groups. “The House of Sharing includes ‘The Museum of Sexual Slavery by Japanese Military’ to spread the truth about the Japanese military’s brutal abuse of Comfort Women and to educate descendants and the public,” Wolf said.

In fact, the atrocities committed against these women, who were repeatedly raped and beaten, were only openly discussed after the democratization of the Republic of Korea in 1987. One victim, Kim Hak-Sun, revealed what had been done to her and lodged a lawsuit in 1991, demanding compensation for Pacific War victims. She was the only complainant to use her own name in the lawsuit.

The Japanese government proved cooperative as more revelations surfaced and launched an investigation. As a consequence, it issued a formal apology, the so-called Kono Statement, in 1993.

Yet in March 2014 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his cabinet had no intention to review the statement, which suggested that Japan, as opposed to Germany, was still more reserved regarding expressions of remorse over war crimes.

“With regard to the comfort women issue, I am deeply pained to think of the comfort women who experienced immeasurable pain and suffering, a feeling I share equally with my predecessors,” Abe said.

“[W]e must be humble in front of history. The issues of history should not be politicized or be turned into a diplomatic issue. Research on history should be entrusted to experts and historians,” he said.

The Japanese Embassy in Washington echoed this stance by expressing its regret over the creation of the Comfort Women Memorial in Fairfax.

Just as is the case with today’s Germany, one could ask: Exactly how many apologies and compensations does it take to truly express remorse? When is enough enough? And does it even make sense to hold people of a certain nationality collectively responsible for the reprehensible things done by their ancestors or a former government?

Conversely, those who are victims of war-crime atrocities, no matter how many apologies or compensation they may receive, could argue that they can never take their lives back.

To the surviving Comfort Women, their families and supporters, the creation of another monument, though not providing closure, may offer a small measure of “comfort” by serving as a reminder of their suffering and as a caveat against similar crimes committed against women.