How comfort women statues got to ride Seoul buses

Similar in looks to the original statue that stands outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul, the bronze effigy embodies “comfort women”, mostly from South Korea and China, who were forced into sex slavery for Japanese soldiers during World War II.
Their bus ride, unveiled on the eve of the August 15 Liberation Day, which marks South Korea’s independence from Japanese colonial rule, is the talk of the town in Seoul. Mayor Park Won-soon, accompanied by a large group of photo journalists, rode one of the buses on August 14 to pay tribute to the victims of Japan’s wartime atrocity. Commuters are sharing photos of the statue on social media.
Behind this much-publicised event, which also garnered attention from Japanese media and politicians, is Rim Jin-wook, the owner of the bus company Donga Traffic Service.
It was Rim who first came up with the idea and single-handedly pushed for it, assuming the entire cost by himself.
“Some may call me nationalist or political, but I’m doing what I can do as a citizen,” Rim says at the firm’s garage in northern Seoul. “Only 37 of the victims are still alive.”
Rim wanted to remind passengers of their plight and protest against the 2015 deal between Seoul and Tokyo governments to “finally and irreversibly” settle the issue, regardless of the victims’ opinion.
“The deal was made without any consent of the victims, which was just outrageous and unacceptable. I’m not a politician or in any position to protest the deal alone, but as a head of a bus company, I wanted to fight it in my own way.” Rim said.
Under the deal, Japan offered 1 billion yen (Bt302.4 million) in compensation, but without acknowledging any legal responsibility for it. The money was channelled via a South Korean fund to former comfort women and their families.
The statues were created by artist Kim Eun-sung and his wife, who made the original one in front of the Japanese embassy. Rim met Kim at an alumni event in 2014.
“I went to the same college with the artist, although we did not know each other back then. I called the couple earlier this June to see if they were interested in designing a set of light-weight copies to be installed on my buses and they said okay,” Rim explains.
Pictures of the statues riding the bus were carried by almost every major newspaper in South Korea. Those taken by passengers also went viral through social media, successfully rekindling the public’s interest on the unresolved wartime atrocity.
Some paid tribute to the statues by placing floral wreaths on their knees.
Others put socks on the girls’ bare feet.
Not surprisingly, Rim’s action irked Japan, which has winced whenever a new comfort women statue is erected.
One day after their unveiling, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga publicly expressed concern over the buses carrying statues, according to Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun.
“Japan and South Korea are making efforts to develop a future-oriented relationship,” Suga said, adding that the setting up of the statues “may put a damper on the efforts”, the news outlet reported.
Japanese news outlets, including the largest broadcaster NHK, also weighed in, saying that the statues could make Japanese travellers uncomfortable.
The bus routes include spots favoured by Japanese tourists, such as Namdaemun Market and Lotte Department Store in Myeongdong.
But the reaction doesn’t appear to scare Rim at all.
“Just think about how absurd it is when a political heavyweight such as a chief cabinet secretary himself reacts extremely sensitively to a mere owner of a local bus company like myself. If they feel uncomfortable about it, I think they should feel the same way to the horrific plight of our victims,” said Rim.
“The statues will be on the bus until the end of September as scheduled,” he says.