[Interview] California woman helps publicize comfort women issue in the United States

Kim Hyun-jung has been a driving force in establishment of statues throughout US cities

Kim Hyun-jung says that she has a broad range of Korean-Americans supporting her comfort women-related work. “I have received support from diverse sectors, from right-wing groups like Korean War P.O.W Affairs and progressive groups related to the Sewol ferry sinking,” she says.

“When it comes to human rights issues, there is no right or left.” When asked about when the comfort women issue will be resolved, Kim replied that it will be possible under the Moon Jae-in government. When pressed as to whether this was just an expression of hope, she added “I also want to apply some pressure to the Moon administration.

”On Sept. 22, a ceremony to unveil a new comfort women memorial statue was held at St Mary’s Square Park in central San Francisco. This is the seventh such memorial statute in the US, and the first in a major city. The event was attended by Lee yong-soo, a victim of Japanese sex slavery, and former US Congressman Mike Honda, but no one was more excited than 48 year-old Kim Hyun-jung, Director of the Korean American Forum of California (KAFC).

The movement to erect the memorial statue was led by the Comfort Women Justice Coalition (CWJC), a body that represents 20 multi-ethnic groups and is led by Chinese-American judges Lillian Sing and Julie Tang. As a member of CWJC’s executive committee, Kim was responsible for strategy and public relations. Kim resides in Glendale, a city in northern Los Angeles County, but I interviewed her by phone on September 19 while she was staying in San Francisco to prepare for the unveiling ceremony.

“After our resolution to erect the statue was approved by the San Francisco City Council in September 2015, I have been to San Francisco about 30 times,” she said. The CWJC, led by Chinese-Americans, was formed only a month before the resolution was passed. How did Kim, a Korean-American, become one of the ‘key minds’ of the organization?

“A number of groups came together to push for a memorial statue, but each organization was also engaged in other activities. KAFC was the only group that was focused solely on comfort women-related work,” she said.

The experience Kim had gained during ten years spent fighting for comfort women proved beneficial in San Francisco as well. She reflected on the situation two years ago when the memorial statue resolution was approved. At the time, the Japanese government had covertly supported groups lobbying to oppose the resolution, threatening its passage. In response, Kim made a snap decision to bring Lee yong-soo from Korea to the US.

“Her testimony in the public hearing played a large part in getting the resolution passed,” Kim said. After hearing her story, the City Council voted unanimously to approve the memorial statue.

“One of the committee members even yelled three times at a Japanese witness who was insulting Lee, telling him that he should be ashamed of himself.” Kim went on to say “Even though the US is an open society, only 10% of sexual assaults are reported. Against this background, many Americans were deeply moved by the sight of an elderly woman talking about the horrific pain and suffering she had endured. Even upon hearing that there were 400,000 victims, the enormity of the brutality doesn’t quite hit home, but seeing old women protesting in the Wednesday demonstration and coming to the US to give testimony really changed public opinion.

”KAFC was founded by Kim when she began fighting in support of comfort women. The organization is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. However there are only six members, including Kim, and the group has no office. KAFC was established for a single purpose – resolving the comfort women issue. In 2007, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution (HR 121) that urged the Japanese government to officially apologize for its wartime actions. At the time, Kim was serving as a member of a California task force made up of Koreans that was pushing for the resolution to be passed.

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