Comfort Women Shelter Director to Receive 'Women’s Human Rights and Peace Civic Award'... Funeral Tomorrow

The funeral hall for Son, the head of "Our House of Peace (Mapo Shelter)," a living space for victims of the Japanese military sexual slavery operated by the Solidarity for Justice and Remembrance, was set up on the 8th at the Severance Hospital funeral hall in Sinchon, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] The funeral of Son Mo (60), the director of the Seoul Mapo-gu Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Victims Shelter "Peace Our Home (Mapo Shelter)" under the Justice and Memory Foundation (Jeonguiyeondae), will be held as a "Women’s Human Rights Peace Civic Funeral."

According to Jeonguiyeondae and the pro-Japanese Korean school support group "Kim Bokdong’s Dream" on the 9th, Son’s funeral will be held for three days from the 8th at the funeral hall of Seoul Sinchon Severance Hospital. The chief mourners are Lee Nayoung, chairperson of Jeonguiyeondae, and Kim Youngsoon, executive representative of the Korean Women’s Associations United. Sixteen civic society figures, including Lee as co-chair of the funeral committee, Korea Yeom, chairperson of the Justice and Memory Foundation’s operating committee, Park Raegun, director of the Human Rights Foundation "Saram," Gomi Kyung, executive representative of Korea Women’s Hotline, and Kim Eonkyung, secretary general of the Citizens’ Coalition for Democratic Media, have taken part as joint funeral committee members. The funeral organizers have allowed citizens to register as funeral committee members online and submit condolence messages. The funeral procession will take place on the 10th.

At the funeral hall, condolences from civic society and the general public continue for the deceased, who had devoted herself as a "caregiver" for the victims of sexual slavery and worked hard for human rights restoration. The organizers began receiving mourners from 3 p.m. on the 8th. In front of the funeral hall, the atmosphere is somber with the cries and laments of acquaintances who participated in civic movements with the deceased. One mourner broke down in tears, sitting down in front of the hall, unable to enter. The flow of general mourners continues, with about ten people in their twenties, apparently university students, visiting as a group. Ruling party figures such as Democratic Party lawmakers Jeong Chunsuk, Jin Sunmi, and Go Minjung also paid their respects on the first day of the funeral. However, several yellow notices stating "All press coverage is strictly prohibited, and no media personnel are allowed entry" are posted around the funeral hall. Several funeral hall staff members are blocking the press from approaching the hall.

The pro-Japanese Korean school support group "Kim Bokdong’s Hope," where the deceased Son served as co-representative, plans to hold a memorial event at Son’s funeral hall at 7 p.m. that day. The event will be broadcast live online.

Son, who had worked at "Peace Our Home" since 2004, was found dead in the bathroom of her home in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on the 6th. It is known that she had expressed emotional distress to those around her after the prosecution raided the Mapo Shelter on the 21st of last month. Meanwhile, it has been reported that the first person to notify the fire authorities that Son Mo was "unreachable" was a member of the office staff of Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Meehyang.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.