A very special guest visited Daewon Foreign Language High School in Seoul. This person was Mrs. Kimseogkyung. Mrs. Kim is the designer of the “little girl statue of peace” placed in front of the Japanese embassy in Korea, Seoul. The “little girl statue of peace” was designed and crafted by two Korean couples- Mrs. Kimseogkyung and Mr. Kimunseong finished the statue in 2011. It was crafted to honor and remember the tragedy of hundreds of Korean comfort women forced to be sex slaves of the Japanese Army during Japanese imperialism in Korea. When the statue became positioned in front of the Japanese embassy, the response was nonchalant and cold as the embassy required its elimination, asserting the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties gave such rights. 
 
<The statue in front of the Japanese Embassy>

Mrs. Kim came to Daewon Foreign Language High School by NYGL captain Mr. Sung-Min Jeon’s sincere request. NYGL stands for NEXT Youth Global Leaders (NYGL) and is a club which is sponsored by NAVER CONNECT foundation with the main purpose of translating Khan Academy online lectures into Korean. The captain of the club, Mr Jeon is a rising senior at Daewon and a student who has profound interest in politics, especially the political sensation between Korea and Japan. “Korea and Japan share an amusing relationship. They’re close neighbors but they have different paradigms, politics, government and history. I’m really interested in how the two countries are distinguished and how the two nations can foster their relationships” said Mr. Jeon in an interview. “my club members and I made stickers and bracelets for people who are going to listen to the lecture so that they will always be able to remember and honor the comfort women who were victims of a dark Korean history”.
            
<Stickers and bracelets>

Mrs. Kim’s 2 hour lecture was mostly about the tragedy of the Korean women who were forced to be sex slaves and how she plans to expand her project. Her ultimate goal is to build more statues elsewhere in other countries so more people from different cultures will take a interest in the issue. “I hope that the comfort women will be able to die in peace- I wish that their wishes are granted and they can have their apology… that is the only thing they want afterall”
Mrs. Kim lecture’s was a real surprise when she gave a twist. She explained that Vietnam women have also suffered from the same kind of sexual assault by Korean men and American soldiers during the Vietnam War. She currently has plans to build statues which symbolizes the struggles Vietnam women went through and has already undertaken such program. 
“It was a very insightful lecture” said a female Daewon Freshman. “I knew that the comfort women incident is very tragic history but when I learned today that the living victims are demanding the Japanese government’s official apology… it made me so sad today.” 
Another male Freshman said “ I never knew that Mrs. Kim built her statues not only in Seoul but also in China, California LA and Jeju island. I am really impressed by her passion for striving justice and I hope her plans to enlarge her program by building more statues everywhere in the world because of a huge success!”
 
<Mrs. Kim’s lecture>
 
After a 40 minute Q&A time, NYGL members took a picture with Mrs. Kim and the session came to an end. 
 
<Picture of NYGL members (captain Mr. Jeon making a v sign in the middle) and Mrs. Kim (in the center)>

 








Sung-Min Jeon
Grade 11
Daewon Foreign Language High School

 

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