2nd ‘Comfort women’ ad placed in NYT

Singer Kim Jang-hoon and freelance Korean publicist Seo Kyoung-duk placed a full-page ad promoting awareness of “comfort women” in Tuesday’s edition of the New York Times.

The ad was the second of its kind following one published in March. There were no pictures or images of the comfort women themselves. Instead, the ad, published on page 15 of the daily, showed a picture of former German Chancellor Willy Brandt kneeling down at a monument for war victims in Warsaw, Poland, in 1971.

The text in the ad states that the act demonstrated Germany’s sincere appeals for forgiveness for the atrocities it committed during World War II. The advertisement, headlined “Do you remember?” urges Japan to follow suit. The Japanese government has yet to issue an official apology and provide proper compensation for the women forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during WWII.

The ad comes not long after the Japanese government requested Palisades Park City, N.J., to remove a monument that was set up in the city, dedicated to the comfort women.

“We attempted to send a message that Japan should learn from Germany’s courageous act by reminding the world of historical events. It was Kim’s idea to use the picture of Brandt,” said Seo, who created the advertisement.

“Putting aside diplomatic issues, the sexual enslavement was an outrageous breach of the basic human rights of women,” said Kim.

“We will continue to appeal to citizens around the world through advertising, in order to have the Japanese government sincerely repent its wrongdoings.”

Kim and Seo also plan to create videos clips about the comfort women and have them aired on major international news channels such as CNN. <Korea Times/Kim Bo-eun>

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