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Yun A Ku, 2016
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Here are photos of student artwork and the accompanying narratives
Title: The Force to Conceal the Truth and Another Fight (은폐하는 세력과 이에 대항하는 힘) Artist: Ae-Hyang Kang (강애향, 12th grade) Award: Gold “Numerous girls and women who wanted to survive had their rights forcefully taken. Presently, the living witnesses of history are dying, afflicted by the force of those who try to cover up the truth. Survivors, whose time ended when their youth was trampled, are leaving us one by one.” 
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Since 1972, Korean schools in Japan have been holding annual student art exhibitions with other Japanese schools. Despite long-existing racial discrimination in Japan, these art exhibitions have provided meaningful opportunities for Korean descendants living in Japan and native Japanese citizens to increase mutual respect and understanding. Students’ entries that receive awards from the judges get to be in the exhibition.
The Chiba Elementary and Middle School was built by Korean forced laborers who had been taken to Chiba and nearby places in Japan. Upon being liberated, they wanted to make sure that their children learned the Korean language, history, and culture in Japan. The school opened on September 13th, 1946. In December 2016, the 45th Student Art Exhibition was held in Chiba. Chiba Korean Elementary Middle School has been organizing the student art exhibition since 2014. Chiba Mayor Toshihito Kumagai, who attended the exhibition, spotted two pieces of artwork by high school students of Korean ancestry from Kanagawa Middle and High School. These pieces had received gold awards, the highest honor possible, and each had a narrative explaining the piece. Student Yun-Soo Jo’s artwork expressed her opposition to the 2015 “comfort women” agreement between the Republic of Korea and Japan, while student Ae-Hyang Kang’s piece expressed sympathy for the victims and survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery. Because these two pieces of student artwork expressed objection to the Japanese government’s position regarding “comfort women” issues, Mayor Kumagai announced on April 27, 2017 his decision to cut the funding of 500,000 JYP (around 4,757 USD in 2017) to Chiba Korean Elementary Middle School, which had organized the exhibition with that fund. In response to this injustice, the principal, Yu-sop Kim, said, “It’s wrong to repress the students’ freedom of expression and to bring politics to interfere with education.” In May 2017, Mayor Kumagai won re-election to a third four-year term. Education for Social Justice Foundation (ESJF) raised a fund of 5,000 USD to make up for the lost funding. In December 2017, the Korean schools held yet another successful student art exhibition. Instead of dampening the “comfort women” movement, the controversial 2015 agreement and the 2017 Special Task Force report ultimately fueled the movement and made organizers and citizens alike realize the importance and urgency of their work. |
Title: What Requires Reparations (보상해야 하는 것)
Artist: Yun-Soo Jo (조연수, 11th grade)
Award: Gold
“Girls under twenty years of age were taken by the imperialistic colonialists as military sexual slaves. The girls became the subject of sexual violence and toys of the military. Their dignity as Koreans and as women was trampled. They are lonely victims whose voices don’t carry much weight, even seventy years after the war has ended. On December 28, 2015, without consulting the survivors, the Japanese government gave 1 billion JPY to Republic of Korea under the condition that Republic of Korea remove the “Statue of Girl” installed across from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
The deal made by the two countries was supposedly “final and irreversible,” indicating the Japanese colonial crimes committed towards Korea could no longer be discussed.
This decision made me burst with fury. We should never forget the problems associated with Japanese military sexual slavery and should squarely face the fact that Korea was subjected to a slavery system by the Japanese imperialists.
The Japanese government must apologize officially and make legal reparations to these survivors. We are responsible for creating and maintaining the society where the dignity of every single person is respected.”
Artist: Yun-Soo Jo (조연수, 11th grade)
Award: Gold
“Girls under twenty years of age were taken by the imperialistic colonialists as military sexual slaves. The girls became the subject of sexual violence and toys of the military. Their dignity as Koreans and as women was trampled. They are lonely victims whose voices don’t carry much weight, even seventy years after the war has ended. On December 28, 2015, without consulting the survivors, the Japanese government gave 1 billion JPY to Republic of Korea under the condition that Republic of Korea remove the “Statue of Girl” installed across from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
The deal made by the two countries was supposedly “final and irreversible,” indicating the Japanese colonial crimes committed towards Korea could no longer be discussed.
This decision made me burst with fury. We should never forget the problems associated with Japanese military sexual slavery and should squarely face the fact that Korea was subjected to a slavery system by the Japanese imperialists.
The Japanese government must apologize officially and make legal reparations to these survivors. We are responsible for creating and maintaining the society where the dignity of every single person is respected.”
