A large group of South Korean women have plans to file a lawsuit against a Japanese citizen who left insulting signs on a monument to comfort women across from the Japanese Embassy. The group of women were among those who served as sexual slaves, or ‘comfort women,’ to the Imperial Army during Japan’s occupation of the Korean peninsula prior to and during World War II. With the help of attorney Park Seon-ah, the women have stated they will file a criminal insult and defamation lawsuit on July 4th against Nobuyuki Suzuki, a 47 year old leader of a right-wing political group.
The women are representing the more than 1,000 complaints that have been received from the House of Sharing, a museum for those who suffered sexual abuse from the Japanese military, and the International Peace and Human Rights Center. Upset that the police haven’t taken any legal action against Suzuki, they say they must take things into their own hands to ensure he doesn’t act out again. Part of their plans involve reporting him to South Korea’s immigration services in order to have him prohibited from entering the country.
On June 19th, Suzuki went to the memorial statue near Japan’s Embassy and placed a sign written in Korean that said Takeshima, a disputed island between Japan and South Korea, is Japanese territory, and another written in Japanese that said Takeshima was inherently Japan’s. The House of Sharing issued a statement that said Suzuki’s actions had defaced a memorial that represented Korea’s comfort women, called them prostitutes, and questioned whether Japan was even responsible for committing human rights crimes.
[Via Asian Correspondent]