Grandmother Lee Yong-soo Visits Jongno Comfort Woman Statue... "To Encourage Students"

Grandmother Lee Yong-soo and members of the Banilban Abe Youth Student Joint Action. Photo by Banilban Abe Youth Student Joint Action SNS capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] Grandmother Lee Yong-soo, a victim of the Japanese military sexual slavery, made a surprise visit on the 9th near the Peace Statue of the Girl in front of the former Japanese Embassy. It is known that this was to encourage the university students who are guarding the statue. This is the first time since the revelations related to the Justice and Memory Solidarity (Jeong-ui-yeon) that Grandmother Lee visited the site of the Wednesday Demonstrations.

According to the Anti-Japan Anti-Abe Youth Student Joint Action on the 9th, Grandmother Lee visited the statue in front of the former Japanese Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul, around 2 p.m. and had a brief meeting with the students conducting a sit-in protest there.

The Joint Action stated that Grandmother Lee had heard about the university students’ activities guarding the statue through the media and came to offer words of encouragement out of concern. The Joint Action also reported that Grandmother Lee spoke to nearby conservative group members, questioning why they wanted to remove the statue. Additionally, she emphasized the importance of resolving this issue and urged that exchanges between Korean and Japanese youth are paramount.

The Anti-Japan Anti-Abe Youth Student Joint Action has been guarding the statue and conducting a sit-in protest since last month on the 23rd, when the conservative group Liberty Solidarity occupied the site of the Wednesday Demonstrations. At that time, the Joint Action members tied themselves together with ropes to block the conservative group Liberty Solidarity from approaching the statue, leading to an overnight standoff. The police declared this illegal and demanded dispersal, but the group refused and continued their sit-in protest.

Meanwhile, with all assemblies around the Peace Statue of the Girl completely banned, Jeong-ui-yeon and conservative groups have continued their gatherings by holding press conferences that do not require prior notification. Jeong-ui-yeon held the 1447th regular Wednesday Demonstration in the form of a press conference the day before, while Liberty Solidarity and other conservative groups held simultaneous press conferences nearby.

The conflict between Jeong-ui-yeon and Liberty Solidarity has continued for over a month since various allegations surrounding Jeong-ui-yeon and Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang began to surface. Every week, both groups hold simultaneous demonstrations around the statue where the Wednesday Demonstrations take place, causing ongoing tensions. Liberty Solidarity occupied the demonstration site in front of the statue where Jeong-ui-yeon had held the Wednesday Demonstrations for 28 years, and even the relocated site was occupied by another conservative group, leading to continuous disputes over the location.

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