The 1,525th Wednesday Demonstration, calling for the Japanese government to redress the issue of wartime sexual slavery, takes place in front of the former Japanese Embassy in Seoul’s Jongno District on Wednesday. This marked the 30-year anniversary of the weekly demonstrations. (Shin So-young/The Hankyoreh)
On Wednesday, activists marked the 30th anniversary of the weekly Wednesday Demonstrations that have demanded that Japan issue an apology for its policy of wartime military sexual slavery, also known as the “comfort women” issue. The 1,525th Wednesday Demonstration was held in front of the former Japanese Embassy in Seoul’s Jongno District at noon. Present at the demonstration was 79-year-old first-generation South Korean women’s rights activist Yoon Young-ae, who pointed at a picture from the first-ever Wednesday Demonstration held on Jan. 8 of 1992 on display at the site. “That’s me,” she said, smiling. Yoon is a women’s rights activist who first started the Wednesday Demonstrations along with the late Kim Hak-soon, the first survivor of the “comfort women” system to publicly testify about the horrors of Japan’s military sexual slavery in 1991.“I still feel the conviction and passion I felt at the first Wednesday Demonstration 30 years ago. When we first started protesting, I thought the demonstration would die out quickly. I never knew it would continue for 30 years. Watching the young women’s rights activists of today fills me with deep inspiration,” Yoon said.Unprecedented in its longevity, the Wednesday Demonstration is the longest-running peace protest in the world, renewing its title with each weekly rally. For Wednesday’s rally, 200 protestors ranging from youth human rights activists to white-haired first-generation activists, as well as regular citizens, gathered near the Statue of Peace, a statue of a Korean girl memorializing victims of sexual slavery by the Japanese military.The protestors celebrated the 30-year journey of peace that the Wednesday Demonstration has maintained and pledged to demand a resolution to Japan’s military sexual slavery issue with unwavering conviction. Like always, demonstrators held up signs that read, “We have been shouting for 30 years; we demand an official apology and legal compensation,” urging the Japanese government to apologize to victims of the “comfort women” system.
