Bergen County Dedicates Memorial to Comfort Women
Inclement weather moves ceremony inside, but did not deter many from coming out for the dedication.
Despite the fact that the weather moved the dedication of the Comfort Women Memorial indoors, it did not prevent people from coming out to the ceremony.
The memorial, sponsored by the Comfort Women Memorial Committee, takes its place in front of the Bergen County Justice Center (Courthouse) beside monuments commemorating the Holocaust, Armenian Genocide, the Irish Great Hunger and African American Slavery.
County Executive Kathleen Donovan, calling this memorial "a long time coming," said it was dedicated to comfort women not only from Korea, but from all of the countries so affected.
Comfort women were women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces. According to the Comfort Women Memorial Committee, the monument honors approximately 200,000 enslaved women.
Donovan, speaking of her trip to South Korea last fall where she visited former comfort women at the Sharing House, said, "I cannot imagine the agony and the suffering that those women went through in the years of World War Two, but the dignity and grace of them now would astonish all of us."
When Donovan asked their permission to tell their story in a monument, they all said yes. They wanted the world to know their story.
"In some small way we are able to do that today with the unveiling and dedication of the Comfort Women Memorial," Donovan said.
Also speaking at the ceremony was Congressman Bill Pascrell. He, too, had the opportunity to meet with former comfort women when they visited Washington, D.C. He told the audience that the stories the women told of their ordeal "strengthen our commitment to the preservation of human rights."
Dongchan Kim, President of Korean American Civic Empowerment, which organized the campaign for the Comfort Women Memorial in Palisades Park, said, "By having the memorial at this location, the Bergen County government is officially recognizing the Comfort Women issue as the same kind of international human rights violation as the other four human rights abuses remembered by Bergen County in front of the Bergen County Courthouse."
Bergen County is home to the largest population of Korean-Americans. In 2012, election ballots were printed in Korean.
Other officials present at Friday's dedication were Sheriff Michael Saudino, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, Freeholder Chairman David Ganz, Freeholder Vice Chairwoman Joan Voss, and Freeholders John Felice, John Mitchell, Steve Tanelli, Maura DiNicola and Tracy Silna Zur.
Councilwoman Gloria Oh from Englewood Cliffs was also present.
Fort Lee is also working with its Korean-American community to dedicate a memorial to Comfort Women. The language of the memorial was approved at Thursday's Executive Session of the Mayor and Council, but a dedication date has not yet been determined.
Martha Cohen
11:10 am on Saturday, March 9, 2013
It was a truly moving ceremony and I feel fortunate to have been able to attend. I hope that our own ceremony in Fort Lee will be scheduled with plenty of notice so that many people in our boro will be able to attend.
As was stated by a number of speakers, this all began with a request by the Korean community to Freeholder John Mitchell who then discussed it with County Executive Kathe Donovan who was in full support followed by bi-partisan support of the Freeholder board. Hopefully, knowledge of this great injustice will add fervor in the fight against human trafficking today. Thanks to the leaders in the Korean community for bringing this issue into the public square and our county leaders for their actions. Special thanks and deep respect must go to the surviving Comfort Women that County Executive Donovan spoke to in Korea, who with strength and grace as told by Donovan, gave their blessing for their stories to be told.
Manotaro
11:55 am on Saturday, March 9, 2013
How shameful it is! The statement graved on the comfort women monument is absolutely lie!
Here is another story on Korean comfort women. The Dutch war film was set based on a real story during the Korean war (6/25/1950-7/27/1953). UN force sent from sixteen countries including 3418 Dutch soldiers, to fight against the communist alliance of North Korea and China.
I feel sorry for the comfort women's hardship because this is a true story.
Field of Honor (Dutch: Het veld van eer) is a 1986 Dutch/South Korean war film set during the Korean war, directed by Dae-hie Kim and Hans Scheepmaker.
“Field of Honor” (Korean prostitution during the Korean War) 1/6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZM94I4VyhE
Pakku Rareman
12:22 pm on Saturday, March 9, 2013
Bergen County is just cultivating hatred among Japanese and American.
No Americans try to even understand why so many Japanese are angry at Koreans.
Comfort women existed and it is true that they led miserable lives. Many of them did so against their will though many volunteered to do so. Many of them were sold by their parents to support their lives during the extremely poor time period. Many volunteered to do the business to support their family. Still, many were deceived for the business by Korean brokers in case of Korean comfort women. However, there is no doubt that they led miserable lives whether it was their choice or not. Also, about half of comfort women were Japanese who never asked for
compensation...it is shame to ask for money for their prostitution.
Watch this video that is a demonstration in a Korean town in Japan. They are not far-right wingers as Koreans describe. They are normal Japanese citizens.
http://youtu.be/-Nk11K87UOQ?t=8m48s
And you can find so many video clips similar to this.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%E9%9F%93%E5%9B%BD+%E3%83%87%E3%83%A2&oq=%E9%9F%93%E5%9B%BD+%E3%83%87%E3%83%A2&gs_l=youtube.3..0l2j0i4j0j0i5l2.5167.9551.0.10560.7.7.0.0.0.0.470.1147.3j3j4-1.7.0...0.0...1ac.1.AANRuqOkA8c
Pakku Rareman
12:35 pm on Saturday, March 9, 2013
By the way, if Americans want to keep the monument, it should say something like this, "...for memories of comfort women who had led miserable lives serving for soldiers of numerous countries such as the USA, Korea, Japan, Netherlands,....(list all countries that had comfort women around their bases and sometimes as real sex slaves like in Vietnam War by Korean soldiers and used the "system")"
Because the monument is in the USA, the name of the USA should come first and it should remember victims of comfort women who served for US soldiers, especially during Vietnam War, Korean War, and occupation in Japan.
Then, I think it is reasonable to have it in the USA and I will respect the monument.