German-Korean civic group Korea Verband unveils comfort women statue in Berlin's Mitte district in 2020 (©Kyodo)
A statue commemorating comfort women in Berlin's Mitte district was physically removed on October 17, ending a years-long dispute over its presence in the German capital.
The removal came after the city's higher administrative court rejected an appeal filed by Korea Verband, a civic organization based in Berlin.
The group had sought an injunction to delay the process, but the court on Thursday ruled that the district was legally justified in using compulsory measures.
On the morning of the removal, Korea Verband president Han Jung-Hwa told Kyodo News that police accompanied contractors as they took down the statue and transported it away by truck.
Han said that she would consult legal counsel about potential next steps.
Longstanding Dispute
Korea Verband installed the statue back in September 2020 as a European focal point in a longstanding historical dispute between Japan and South Korea.
In 2022, during then–German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to Japan, the Japanese government asked him to support its removal.
Shortly thereafter, officials in the Mitte district began preparing to have the statue taken down.
Opponents of the removal actively voiced their objections, organizing street protests and petitions in Berlin and other cities.
Roots of the Controversy
The 5-foot bronze statue was first erected in front of the former Japanese embassy in Seoul in 2011. Since then, over 150 similar installations have appeared in South Korea and worldwide, including in the United States, Germany, Canada, and Australia.
The South Korean government argues that the monument commemorates hundreds of thousands of women abducted by the former Japanese military and subjected to sexual slavery during World War II.
Tokyo has categorically denied these claims.
In the summer of 2022, the South Korean civic group End Comfort Women Fraud held a four-day demonstration in Berlin, calling for the statue's eradication.
The episode underscored that support for the public monument was far from unanimous, even within the Korean community.
Reactions to the Removal
Lew Seok-choon, a former professor at Yonsei University, described the latest development as "a small but significant victory."
"This marks the first instance of a comfort woman statue being brought down anywhere in the world," he said. "It signals a fundamental shift in the international discourse on this vexing historical issue."
Berlin's decision also drew support from those who saw it as addressing concerns over the statue's divisive political message.
Yumiko Yamamoto, head of the Japanese NGO Nadeshiko Action, criticized the installation for disregarding the feelings of local residents and members of the Japanese community abroad.
"While the advocates frame it as a human rights initiative for women, the statue actually functions as a vehicle for anti-Japanese sentiment and for deepening the rift between Japan and South Korea," she said.
She hopes that its removal will help ease social friction in Germany and elsewhere.
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Author: Kenji Yoshida
