The weekly protest is led by :ko:한국정신대문제대책협의회|The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, commonly referred to as the Korean Council. The demonstrations take place at noon every Wednesday, the busiest time of the day. The first demonstration was held on January 8, 1992, for the visit of then Prime Minister of JapanKiichi Miyazawa, and the 1,000th on December 14, 2011. The only Wednesday protest the Korean Council and former comfort women have missed since 1992 was during the Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995. The Wednesday demonstration was listed in March 2002 in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest rally on a single theme. Such long years of weekly protests are still on going as they believe the Japanese government has not given any sincere official apology to these victims. In 2007, current Prime minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo, mentioned how there was no "forceful" action of the Japanese government in gathering the women, which is still his stance regarding this issue until the present. In December 2015, there was a deal signed by the government of President Park Geun-hye, incumbent Moon Jae-in's predecessor, and Prime minister Abe Shinzo regarding the comfort women issue, but the protest still went on as the deal was regarded as a lacking deal without the consent of the victims and forced by the Park's government's favor. Such stance has been supported by the new foreign minister of South Korea, Kang Kyung-wha who pinpointed how the two countries are at odds regarding the deal struck in 2015. However, the deal was officially cancelled by the government of President Moon Jae-in in November 2018. August 14, 2019 marked the 1,400th Wednesday Demonstration, the day before the 74th National Liberation Day wherein thousands of people gathered in support of the movement. Korean law prohibits demonstrations around foreign embassies. It is believed that the local government has intentionally left it alone. This statement regarding prohibition around foreign embassies have an issue. Article 11 Clause 4 of the Assembly and Demonstration Act of South Korea restricts the protests within 100 meters from the foreign ambassies. Nonetheless, there are three exceptions. One is the case that the protest is not regarding the diplomatic institution nor residence of diplomats. Another is when the demonstration is expected not to become a large scale. The third is that the demonstration is held on holidays. And the demonstration shall not be obscure the safety of the diplomatic institution nor its members for all three occasions. The Wednesday protest falls in the second case. It always keeps its location on the other side of Japanese embassy without occupying the motorway or opposite side, which is deemed to be small size or medium even at largest. In addition, the Japanese embassy moved to a building next to it used to be, further away from the demonstration spot, in 2015. Thus, the location of the protest at present since 2015 is more accurately across the street from former Japanese embassy.
Objectives
According to the Korean Council, the "Wednesday Demonstrations have turned into a place for solidarity between citizens and the victims, a living site for history education, a platform for peace and women's human rights, bringing people together in solidarity beyond gender, age, borders, and ideologies." The Korean Council states that they will keep protesting until Korea has considered the rights and dignity fully restored to the victims. Their objective in protesting is "the restoration of dignity and human rights of comfort women." The Korean Council's overall objectives in fully resolving the war crimes are:
Erect a memorial for the victims of military sexual slavery and establish a historical museum.
Recently, the Korean government claims to have a fair negotiation with the Japanese government which implements the voice of the victims of sexual slavery which is seen as an improvement from the former agreement. The 2015 settlement that was reached by President Park Geun-hye's ministry was thrown out by current president Moon Jae-in. On November 21, 2018, however, the Japanese-funded comfort women foundation which was launched in July 2016 to finance the controversial negotiated settlement was shut down by President Moon Jae-in ministry after the 2015 agreement was scrapped. On August 14, 2018, the first official memorial day of comfort women was marked in South Korea.
Pyeonghwaui Sonyeosang
The golden bronze statue, "Pyeonghwaui Sonyeosang" often referred to as , located in Seoul, South Korea, was inaugurated for the 1,000th rally on December 14, 2011. The statue of the Korean girl sitting on a chair facing the former Japanese Embassy represents all of the Korean girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army. The bird on her shoulder is symbolic of freedom and peace. The original statue in Seoul has inspired at least a dozen subsequent statues commemorating comfort women including statues in Busan and San Francisco. Nearly all of the statues have been protested or condemned by members of the Japanese government officials and delegates. Repeatedly, Japan has asked for the removal of the "comfort women" statues in Seoul and Busan.
In media
Activist Meehyang Yoon's book on comfort women and the Wednesday demonstrations, 20 Years of Wednesdays: The Unshakable Hope of the Halmoni - Former Japanese Military Comfort Women, was published in 2010 in Korean, and translated into Japanese the following year. A follow-up, 25 Years of Wednesdays , was published in 2016.
