by Xinhua reporter Xin Jin
DALLAS, the United States, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) — A girl was faintly sobbing together with the plot because the film display flickered at nighttime.
On Sunday, the sixth International Memorial Day for “Comfort Women,” a South Korean movie titled “Spirits’ Homecoming-Unfinished Story” was taking part in on the massive display within the auditorium of the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum within the U.S. state of Texas.
The movie is a component drama, half documentary, and contains scenes from the movie “Spirits’ Homecoming” in addition to testimonials from “comfort women” the Imperial Japanese Army enslaved throughout World War II.
Sunday’s commemoration additionally contains an artwork exhibition, a peace and justice stroll, and a candlelight vigil within the close by Thanks-Giving Square.
According to the organizers’ official web site, Unforgotten Butterflies, the annual commemoration goals to teach and lift “awareness about Comfort Women and issues surrounding human trafficking … We hope to give victims who are marginalized, voiceless, and powerless a voice through educational programs and activities.”
“This is something we can not forget as a human race. We need to continue to educate our people the risks and challenges of human exploitation we’re still facing today. By forgetting things like ‘comfort women’ during WWII, we are condemned to repeat those practices in the future,” Steve Babick, mayor of Carrollton, Texas, who got here to look at the movie, instructed Xinhua.
According to the China Comfort Women Research Center, roughly 400,000 Asian girls — principally Korean or Chinese — have been forcibly taken away from their properties by the Japanese military throughout WWII. They have been taken to a “comfort station,” a brothel that catered to Japanese troopers, the place they have been raped, tortured and humiliated.
Sinmin Pak, founder and president of Unforgotten Butterflies, mentioned that the WWII “Comfort Women” got here from 34 nations and areas worldwide. As of 2019, solely about 30 particular person “comfort women” have been alive, most of them of their mid-90s.
The victims have been ready their total lives for justice, mentioned Pak.
The commemoration came about simply sooner or later earlier than the 77th anniversary of Japan’s give up, marking the tip of WWII.
Though 77 years have handed, the Japanese authorities has but to supply a profound reflection and apology on the “comfort women” subject. Instead, the issue has been whitewashed and distorted in numerous methods to obliterate the historic reality, mentioned Pak.
However, worldwide efforts to defend historic reality and worldwide justice have by no means been relinquished. Historical supplies about “comfort women” have been publicized, movies concerning the subject have continued to emerge and memorial statues of “comfort women” have been erected in lots of nations, together with the United States.
During Sunday’s commemoration, Dr. Joci Ryan, director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Southern Methodist University, inspired all attendees to make sure that the historical past of “comfort women” isn’t forgotten and the reality is saved alive.
Without an apology, open wounds by no means heal, observers say. The world is ready for the Japanese authorities to acknowledge the deep struggling of so-called “comfort women.” For now, it stays an unfinished story stuffed with unforgettable ache.