A "Statue of Peace" already born amid the controversies between Japan and South Korea. It was inaugurated this morning on the Colombo seafront in Stintino , the first in Italy, the second in Europe after Germany.
The ceremony was held near the lighthouse, a touching moment that not even the contrasts between the two peoples could obscure. The bronze sculpture was donated by the "Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan" Foundation as a symbol of those women (about 200 thousand between the ages of 13 and 20) who were forced during the Second World War to prostitute themselves to brighten the days of the Japanese soldiers.
The mayor of Stintino, Rita Vallebella , wanted to commemorate the victims of the atrocities perpetrated in the years between 1932 and 1945, to raise public awareness of women's rights globally. But the affair to which the monument refers is a still open wound between South Korea and Japan.
For this reason, last Thursday, the Japanese ambassador Suzuki presented himself at the Municipality of Stintino for a meeting with the mayor, with the aim of inviting her to postpone the inauguration of the Statue of Peace, in which there appears a writing that would accuse Japan of not having recognized those crimes and not having made compensation to the families of the women victims of violence . This version, however, was rejected by the Land of the Rising Sun which, instead, declares the opposite, stating that it has recognized those crimes and above all that it has already activated the procedures for recognizing the compensation payments.
«I am ready to ascertain this with the Korean ambassador, because I want to know Seoul's official position, considering that I have an interest in the news being given correctly. But I believe that at the center of this day are women and the violence committed against them in times of war and the Korean victims that we are celebrating at this moment represent all women in the world, including those who are now suffering violence, such as Ukrainian citizens , Palestinians and Africans".
