With Comfort Women Installations, Germany, UK are Hosting Anti-Japan Disinformation

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It is the duty of the Japanese government to protect the lives and property of its citizens. But, more than that, it must also defend our national honor. That includes in Europe, where the German capital Berlin's Mitte district allowed a Korean civic group to erect a "comfort women" statue conveying disinformation.

The comfort women statue was first erected on public land. A plaque at its base reads, "During World War II, the Japanese military forcibly abducted girls and women and made them sex slaves."

This charge is completely unfounded and intended only to create a negative perception of Japan. Therefore, it is only natural that the statue should be removed from public land.

In response to Japanese demands for its removal, the local government recently announced plans to move the statue to nearby private property. Although the Korean group opposed the move, the Mitte authorities had already reached an agreement with the landowner to which the statue is to be moved.

But anti-Japan propaganda should not be tolerated, even on private property.

Anti-Japan Propaganda

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Korean groups or other parties have erected similar comfort women statues in at least 30 locations overseas. The Japanese government should strongly urge relevant agencies in each country to remove them.

*An anti-Japan protester points a finger opposing the efforts of the South Korean group, End Comfort Women Fraud, in Berlin.*

Five years ago in 2020, "Action Group Comfort Women of the Korea Verband" erected the statue mentioned above in Berlin's Mitte district. Thereafter, the Japanese government officially requested that Germany's federal government and other authorities remove it. The local government in the Mitte ward ordered its removal in September 2024, but the Korean group did not comply.

An administrative court thereafter allowed the group to keep the statue in place until this upcoming September. Local authorities in Mitte have now reiterated their intention to remove the statue from public land. However, it will be relocated to a spot merely 100 meters from its current site.

According to the authorities, they acceded to Korea Verband's request that the statue "should be visible to the general public."

But doesn't that negate the meaning of the relocation?

False Information Slips Through at the Local Level

Elsewhere in Germany, a similarly misinformed statue of a comfort woman had been on display in the city museum in Cologne. However, it was recently relocated to a private museum in Bonn. An unveiling ceremony was just held for it in June.

This anti-Japan campaign has carried into the United Kingdom. There, a misinformed panel display on comfort women was included in a special exhibition at the Imperial War Museums. That exhibit opened in May.

*A panel depicting comfort women is on display at a special exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London. (©Sankei by Yoshinari Kurose)*

All of these exhibits are accompanied by false descriptions, such as "Japanese soldiers forcibly took women away and made them sex slaves." It is clear that Korean groups and others have prepared these exhibits with the aim of denigrating Japan's national honor.

The Japanese military never "forcibly abducted women" or made them "sex slaves." There is no historical evidence to support the inflammatory explanations accompanying the comfort women panels and statues.

Nevertheless, the Japanese government should take the current situation very seriously. Comfort women disinformation continues to tarnish the reputation of Japan, despite being moved from one location to another.

We hope that Germany, the United Kingdom, and other countries will reject such unjust anti-Japan propaganda.