Fighting for dignity as a human beings <3>
< "SYUKAN KINYOBI" April 5th No.406 issue >
translated by E.T.O.
Fighting for dignity as a human beings -
The 500th Anniversary of Wednesday Demonstration
by the Former Comfort Women of Seoul
< " I'm the living evidence." >
Next morning sun has risen gently. It was hard to recognize yesterday. There was snowy weather. Warm sunlight gradually covered the Nanumumjip located between mountain hills. Ms. Pak Onryon was enjoying a smoke after breakfast at a porch by the house. I sat next to her just to spend some time together. Ten minutes passed in silence. " Lieutenant Abe will never come back. He must have died. I was called Shizuko." Ms. Pak Onryon began to talk in a whispering voice without my asking. She slowly continued her story. " He asked me to get married." We were quiet for about thirty seconds. " And how did you reply to him? " " I said yes." A close relationship between a comfort woman and an armed Japanese soldier should not be told as a simple romance. However, there is a fact that she had fallen in love with him as a woman. It was no surprise that halmonis were and are still are woman.

Ms. Pak Onryon participates in the Wednesday Demonstration on her own will. If the Japanese government doesnft approve our request, I will live to two hundred and get their official apology. She affirmed a commitment in a gentle manner. We demand an official apology and compensation to Japan because we cannot accept their current behavior of covering up what had happened in the past. If they ask for evidence, I will claim that I am the living evidence myself.

During my stay in Nanumjip, two halmonis, among ten former-comfort women, refused to talk to me. Not all former-comfort women were actively involved in the Wednesday Demonstration. There was a halmoni who had a negative opinion about the protest. After three days, my existence became familiar in Nanumjip and they spoke to me spontaneously. Onetime, Ms. I complained. " I do feel quite lonely to live on my own. But it is difficult to live with others outside."

I was able to talk with four halmonis in spite of my short visit. Their primary request was not compensation, but to recover their dignity as a human being who were once treated as an object.
While halmonis had their haircuts from hairdressers who voluntary visit the "house of sharing," they bashfully gestured to me to keep away my camera.
A vast field exists in the backyard of Nanumjip the "house of sharing." Many halmonis feel relived by touching the soil.
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