ESJF at Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict International Symposium, Day 3: ​War and Women’s Human Rights Museum & Wednesday Rally

After visiting the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum, all symposium participants joined the 1392th Wednesday rally held across from the Japanese embassy in Seoul. At the rally, Vasfije Kransniqi-Goodman, a survivor of wartime sexual violence in Kosovo, was the second recipient of the Kim Bok-dong Peace Prize. Several teachers, survivors, and activists from outside of Korea spoke at the rally. ESJF’s message to the rally attendees follows:

We, the teachers from the San Francisco Bay Area, are honored to be here. To the victims who are here and the ones who are no longer with us, we want to say that we see you, we hear you, and we will continue fighting with you. This issue of wartime sexual abuse will not go away until the men and women in power show in their actions that they fully realize its importance and join the international movement to stop sexual violence.

Grandma Won-ok Gil and Yong-soo Lee, former Japanese military sex slaves, attended the rally, energizing everyone. The demonstration ended with the wonderful news that the Korean Council will soon open the Kim Bok-dong Center in Uganda. The center will include the Kim Bok-dong memorial room, museum displays on Japanese military sexual slavery and the history of the Ugandan Civil War (1981-1986), and a school.