STATUE OF PEACE PLACED AT GERMAN MUSEUM

[Anchor Lead]

A Statue of Peace, a statue of a girl built to remember the victims of the Japanese military’s sex crimes during World War II, was placed at a public museum in Dreseden, Germany. It is the first time the statue is displayed in a public museum in Europe. Together with the one in Berlin, this Statue of Peace is expected to publicize the issue of wartime sex slavery to German citizens.

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A tarp is lifted to reveal the Statue of Peace underneath. It stands in the courtyard of the Museum of Ethnology located in Dresden, Germany. This is the first time that a Statue of Peace, in remembrance of the Japanese wartime sexual slavery victims, was put up for display inside a public museum in Europe. It's part of an exhibition to publicize the suffering experienced by wartime sex slaves and find a way to resolve the issue. The exhibit includes a video footage of a pregnant sex slave unearthed and reported by KBS... KBS news footage of Kim Hak-soon’s first-ever testimony in 1991 about wartime sex slavery... photos of courageous victims from all over the world who were inspired by Kim Hak-soon to break their own silence after nearly half a century.
The exhibition ends with several pairs of shoes up for display. As victims were dragged off barefooted, the footwear represents something the victims were only able to put on after they returned to their homes. The theme of this exhibition is “Silence.” It aims to let the world know about the truth by breaking the forced silence and preserving those memories for the next generations.

[Soundbite] Léontine Meijer-van Mensch(Director, Museum of Ethnology) : "This is a museum of dialogue. I want to invite people to the museum and talk with them even if their positions and attitudes are different."

The exhibit continues until August 1st and the Statue of Peace will be on display for a year. Most of the displays were provided by Korea Verband, which also erected the Statue of Peace in Berlin.

[Soundbite] Han Jung-hwa(Director, Korea Verband) : "We want this issue to be publicized to the world as a universal human rights　issue, not a conflict between Korea and Japan."

Korea Verband hopes that this exhibition would spur other cities in Germany to erect more Statues of Peace.