According to a report by Agence France-Presse on the 8th, a Japanese art exhibition with the theme of "comfort women" statues reopened on Tuesday. The statue's exhibition was suspended for two months after receiving numerous intimidations and threats.
According to reports, during the current "Aichi Triennale 2019" International Art Festival, it was originally planned to display a statue of a girl wearing traditional Korean clothing sitting on a chair. The exhibition was closed in early August after only three days of opening. closed. Organizers said the controversial statue of the controversial figure will be on display and will offer guided tours and educational courses to visitors when it reopens later on Tuesday under new safety measures.
The statue also caused controversy before as relations between Japan and South Korea hit a new low due to historical issues. The Japanese government canceled subsidies for the exhibition, claiming Aichi Prefecture failed to provide all information in advance.
Aichi Prefecture Governor Hideaki Omura said late Monday: "It is regrettable that exhibitions of some artists' works have been cancelled. I would like to complete the 'Aichi Triennale', one of Japan's largest art festivals, in a friendly manner" . The statue of a girl symbolizes the "comfort women" who were forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese army before the end of World War II. Omura said in August that they had received a series of threatening emails, phone calls and faxes about the exhibition.
According to mainstream historians, as many as 200,000 women were forced to become "comfort women" by the Japanese army before the end of World War II. Most of the women were from South Korea, and others were from other parts of Asia, including China. In recent years, dozens of statues have been erected in public spaces around the world, many in South Korea, to commemorate the victims. The statues have sparked outrage in Tokyo, with the Japanese government demanding the removal of a statue outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul.
Bilateral relations between Japan and South Korea have deteriorated in recent months over a long-standing dispute over forced labor by Japanese troops in South Korea during World War II. The two sides revoked each other's special export partner status, and South Korea announced that it would not renew an agreement to share sensitive military information.
(Editor: DWH)
