Kim Bok Dong was a victim of Japan’s wartime military sexual slavery, and one of the first of the survivors to speak out in the early 1990s. She became a prominent human rights campaigner on this and other issues affecting lives of young women. She passed away this year on 28 January. On March 13th, […]
Tag: Comfort Women
Screening: A Long Way Around
A one-off screening of ‘A Long Way Around’ (‘에움길’) at Hammersmith Novotel Screening room 1, part of the week long International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema. Director Seung-Hyeon Yi’s 77 minute film tells the story of the ‘comfort women’ through the life of grandma Ok-Seon Lee. Free screening. No booking required. 10am, 18 February 2019. […]
RIP Kim Bok-dong
Next Tuesday, 5 February, a vigil will be held in remembrance of Kim Bok-dong who passed away on Monday 28 January, aged 93. She was a victim of Japanese military sexual slavery and a tireless campaigner against violence to women and girls in conflict. Her visit to London in 2015 touched many hearts. The vigil […]
SOAS seminar – From the Writing to Speaking Subject: Korean ‘Comfort Women’ and Girlhood
The second of this year’s SOAS evening seminars: From the Writing to Speaking Subject: Korean ‘Comfort Women’ and Girlhood Dr Jinhee Choi (King’s College London) 25 January 2019, 5:15 – 7:00 pm Venue: Brunei Gallery Room B104 | Register here Abstract From Snowy Road (눈길, dir. Lee Na-jeong, 2015) and Spirits’ Homecoming (귀향, dir. Cho […]
Book review: Mary Lynn Bracht — White Chrysanthemum
Mary Lynn Bracht: White Chrysanthemum Penguin Random House 2018, 320pp White Chrysanthemum, the debut novel from Mary Lynn Bracht, tells the story of two sisters, brought up on Jeju Island, who were tragically separated in the last years of the Second World War. The elder sister, Hana, is abducted into sexual slavery by a Japanese […]
Exhibition news: Remembering The ‘Comfort Women’, at Deptford Does Art
Art exhibition, book reading and film screening on a “Comfort Women” theme later this month: Remembering The ‘Comfort Women’ Deptford Does Art | 28 Deptford High Street | London SE8 4AF | www.deptforddoesart.com 25 April – 29 April The sexual slavery of some 200,000 women and girls by the Japanese Imperial Army during WW2 was […]
Screening: My Heart Is Not Broken Yet
Moon So-ri is the narrator of this moving film specially selected for screening close to International Women’s Day 2018. LKL caught it in Sheffield in 2015 – brief review here. My Heart Is Not Broken Yet Dir: AHN Hae-ryong (2007) Venue: Birkbeck, University of London, Room B04, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD Saturday 10 […]
SOAS conference: Colonialism and its Reverberations
A good half-day conference coming at the beginning of February. Check the event’s Facebook page or the SOAS website for updates. Colonialism and its Reverberations: ‘Comfort Women’ and Historical Revisionism in Korea and Japan Professor Yonson Ahn (University of Frankfurt), Professor Vladimir Tikhonov (University of Oslo), Professor Chong Yeonghwan (Meiji Gakuin University) 3 February 2018, […]
Event news: The Apology screens at Human Rights Watch film festival
Human Rights Watch film festival will be screening The Apology, a documentary on the subject of women forced into sexual slavery in WWII. There will be two opportunities to see the film, both followed by a Q+A session with director Tiffany Hsiung. The Apology (2016) UK Premiere, with Q+A with Director Tiffany Hsiung Wednesday 15 […]
Festival Film review: Spirit’s Homecoming
With the signing of the Comfort Women “deal” between Japan and South Korea in December 2015 – a deal signed without consulting the victims themselves – the issue of the wartime sex slaves once again came to the fore. While the inter-governmental negotiators were reaching the final stages of their deal-making, Cho Jung-rae’s long-term project […]
Fringe visit: Girl
Modl Theatre Company is perhaps best known in this country for its work aimed at younger audiences, but it is a diverse company which also engages with more adult material too. And you can’t get much more adult than a graphic description of the surgical procedure that the Japanese forced upon young Korean girls so […]
Visiting Korean students protest Comfort Woman issue
Great to see so many young people from South Korea raising awareness of the ‘comfort women’ issue in London today, performing and protesting at the Japanese embassy and Trafalgar Square.
Video: Living Statue “Comfort Women” protest outside Tate Modern
Braving the cold and rain, the living statue demonstration proceeded yesterday in front of Tate Modern. LKL arrived too late to take any photos, but above is one of the official photos and, below, a video of the protest. Links: justice4comfortwomenuk.wordpress.com
Event news: Live Statue protest in support of “Comfort Women”
Timed to be close to International Women’s Day, there will be a “live statue” protest outside Tate Modern this Saturday, promoted by Justice for Comfort Women UK. Here is there official press release. Justice for ‘Comfort Women’ UK ‘Live Statue’ event in London Saturday 5 March 2016 12:00 – 16:00 Outside Tate Modern To publicise […]
Comfort Women deal protested at Ban Ki-moon speech
The Justice for ‘Comfort Women’ UK group held a quiet protest outside Westminster Central Hall yesterday as people filed in to listen to a talk by Ban Ki-moon. The dignified campaign continued inside: as Ban got up to speak, a protestor held up a sign demanding that the intergovernmental “deal” be annulled. Ban’s speech was targeted […]
Looking back at 2015: DPRK and regional news
In our third review of 2015, we look at some of the North Korea related news, and stories which put the peninsula in a wider East Asian context. DPRK Human rights and defectors Shin Dong-hyuk, the most prominent campaigner among the defector community, admitted that some of his testimony (eg, in Escape from Camp 14) […]
Supporters of Comfort Women to protest outside Korean Embassy
When the BBC reported the “deal” between Japan and South Korea on the Comfort Women issue last week, saying that ‘South Korea says it will consider the matter resolved “finally and irreversibly” if Japan fulfills its promises,’ LKL marvelled that no mention was made of what the victims themselves thought about the deal. They don’t […]