No.8

Mayor John Ernst I suggest shipping the statue to more suitable location, i.e. North Korea. Firstly inscription for the memorial contains serious fabrications. For example it is true that so called ‘Comfort Women’ were victims of sexual indentured labor but it is not true that Japanese Imperial Army abducted as much as 200,000 Korean girls which equals to 2% of female population in 1945. Secondly this anti-Japan fabrication was willfully spread by leftist Japanese and Koreans deeply connected to North Korea so there is geopolitical risk in this propaganda. They try to destroy 2015 accord between Japan and Korea and harm relationship between US’ allies in East Asia. Activists are anti-Japan but they are also anti-US. Thirdly we Japanese apologized and compensated at least more than Germans did. Korean activists try hard to ignore this fact. They don’t want reconciliation. I think local Korean-Americans might not aware Japan’s efforts regarding apologies made in the past. On Japanese side we are tired of being accused regardless of how much we apologized. Fourth point is this movement caused discrimination and bullying especially towards certain minority in the USA, Japanese Americans and Japanese expatriates family. When the movement is based on false information intended to harm important international relationship and cause serious discrimination against certain ethnic group it is not for civilized society, not for the US. So it should be demolished or sent to totalistic North Korea. R.W.

No.7

This statue is the symbol of bashing-japan. Not for honoring "Comfort women". Why shouldn’t comfort women during Korean War and Vietnam War be remembered and honored? Hundreds of thousands of them were killed or raped brutally and trafficked by Korean soldiers. Why doesn’t the inscription mention it? There are still many surviving sexual slavery victims from Korean War. They are suffering now without any apology and compensations. If you have an ounce of conscience, you should save them. Do not make a sacrifice of them in order to defame Japan or to dilute Korean atrocity in Korea War, Vietnam War. M.C.

No.6

Why does South Korea cling to history full of lies and refuse to move away from ‘anti-Japan’? Among today’s free democratic countries, much less among the civilized nations that boast the world’s top 10 largest economies, there is no nation but South Korea that rally around to incite nation-wide hatred and attack a particular nation all year round. It is hard to deem normal especially when considering the fact that the target of this phenomenon is a fellow free nation. What is further perplexing is that what South Korea clings to is not immoralities or wrongdoings that Japan is committing today, but quite archaic ones that have already been resolved. Furthermore, most of what Koreans today call “issues of the past” is closer to “fiction” that is exaggerated, fabricated, or distorted. Attacking someone based on “issues of the past” from long time ago is undesirable enough; it would be an even more serious issue if such “past issues” are based on exaggerations or fabrications rather than facts. Many Koreans today engage in frantic anti-Japan campaigns, calling out “Japanese barbarism” over said “recruitment”, exaggerating and distorting even worker accidents that have ever existed since the dawn of the time, in the East and the West, as if to say those, too, were a result of Japan’s oppression, making movies about them for the world to see. As to the comfort women issue, a Japanese man called “Seiji Yoshida” spread the lie that “I abducted Korean Women in Cheju Island”, which was mainly covered and spread by Japan’s Asahi Newspaper; this was the start of the whole comfort women issue. After Seiji Yoshida’s lies, Asahi covered them without validation, after which Korean women came out one after another to drag on the “comfort women issue” based solely on their “testimonies” without any objective evidence. Then-president Kim Young-sam promised to the Japanese government, who adhered to the position that there was no objective evidence of compulsory recruitment, that “if the Japanese government acknowledges that it was of compulsory nature, we will not make the comfort women an issue in the future.” The Japanese side, believing this promise in South Korea, announced the “Kono discourse”. However, since then, the Korean side has attacked Japan with even more persistence and vindication, making such “Kono discourse” their biggest weapon. The argument from the Korean side today is along the lines of “You have not yet made a truly sincere apology” or “those individuals have separate rights to claim compensations”, which are virtually an excuse to permanently cling onto this comfort women issue. There are many mysteries surrounding the comfort women. There is no objective evidence that girls and women on the Korean Peninsula were forcibly recruited, and the allegations of”200,000 people” and “sex slaves” also have no objective evidence, either. Rather, what have been discovered so far are comfort women recruitment ads on newspapers etc. at that time; US military materials etc. which recorded such facts as that comfort women received salaries and sent money to their families and even bought diamonds, houses. etc. Furthermore, if we suppose the forced mobilization was truly a fact, people in the Korean Peninsula at the time face the disturbing question of “what were they doing?” There is no record that there were parents, brothers, relatives, neighbors who fought when their women were allegedly taken as sex slaves. There is no record of missing persons, either. So, then, the only conclusion one could reach is that the most cold-hearted people in the world would be, in fact, the family members of such Korean women. It is also not convincing that women, who were forced into sexual slavery, remained silent for nearly 40 years after the independence. Looking at the furiously vocal “former comfort women” that spew flaming hatred toward Japan today, I find it hard to believe that they managed to remain silent for more than 40 years. In 2014, the Asahi Newspaper officially announced that their coverage of the comfort women’s “forced recruitment in Cheju” was a hoax. With this, it can be said that the comfort women problem has been virtually invalidated. The core of the comfort women issue is “compulsory recruitment”, which turned out to be fundamentally flawed, rendered by the Asahi retraction in 2014 fictional (so-called “steamed bread without bean paste in it”). Koreans treated this as an issue believing the recruitment was compulsory, but it turned out to have been based on lies (of compulsory recruitment) ; so it’s only natural that it should be completely invalidated, but in reality, Korea, Japan, and the international community (UN, American Congress, etc.) have come too far to go back when it comes to the comfort women issue. Japan hopes that the interest in this issue will fade over time. But South Korea, having been blinded by anti-Japan sentiments, does not seem to have abandoned their intention to attack Japan, clinging onto the comfort women issue as long as possible. Unknown

No.5

Following is the extract from: Chalenging the 20 American Historians (May 9, 2016, Japan Times) I hope you can regain your honor in your heart after reading it, not make yourself eat Korean dirt. ++++++ Upon its commencement in October 1998, the research objective of the IWG Report was limited to Nazi war crimes. Thereafter, though, Japanese Imperial government records were added to the objectives of the IWG Report in December 2000 in response to a request from the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of World War II in Asia, a group led by people of Chinese descent based in San Francisco. After very extensive research lasting seven years, the IWG could not find any documentation to show that the Japanese government committed war crimes with respect to the comfort women. In the IWG Final Report to the U.S. Congress, a document stretching 155 pages, there is no language clearly indicating that any record of Japanese war crimes vis-a-vis comfort women had been uncovered. Instead, the report contains reams of unimportant passages, presumably with the aim of camouflaging an inconvenient truth. But despite no evidence of war crimes by the Japanese government in the IWG Report to the U.S. Congress, on July 30, 2007, the U.S. Congress still passed House Resolution 121 on the comfort women, demanding that the Japanese government apologize for “crimes” for which no evidence had been produced. The whole process in the U.S. Congress at that time was extremely unfair ? or worse ? to Japan. Today, American fairness is in serious question almost everywhere in the world, although most Americans may not know this or do not wish to know. This broad lack of trust in American fairness is one of the major factors in the failure of American foreign policy on so many fronts in the past decades. Under such circumstances, is it wise for the U.S. to show apparent unfairness to the Japanese public, too, especially given that Japan is one of the closest American allies in the world? If the U.S. wishes to see its foreign policy succeed, it should begin with a reassessment of its fundamental fairness. The safety of Americans and of the rest of the world depends on it. It is often said that we cannot acquire a clear picture of any given era of history until at least a century has elapsed. Since we are now 71 years past the end of World War II, it is natural that new evidence or interpretations will emerge in the years to come. Not only newly found historical facts but also new historical interpretations should be respected and subjected to academic discussion and debate. Incidentally, this year marks the 102nd anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, but we still lack a coherent historical evaluation of even that conflict. And yet, these same Americans who have striven to fashion a consensus regardless of where the evidence leads them are quick to call us revisionists. But isn’t it always important for open-minded scholars to seek revisions when they are appropriate? Those who cry “revisionism” are unscientific; they do not behave like intellectuals. Perhaps it is time for us to return the favor and label them the “bigoted old guard.” E.K.

No.4

There is an old saying in Japan ‘Sun (God) always see you (Otentosama ga miteru)’. Most despised behavior in Japanese culture is telling a lie and not keeping one’s word. Existence of Comfort Women or professional camp followers was no secret after WW2. They were portrayed in novels, newspapers and governmental documents. Most of Japanese admit that sufferings of Comfort Women were genuine and we have no wish or reason to retract government’s apology made in 1993. We wished better relationship with Koreans after 1993 apology and we didn’t imagine that the apology itself was regarded as new evidence for further claims; i.e. direct involvement of Japanese Imperial Army in abductions of as much as 200,000 girls and request for more apologies and compensations. Maybe because we Japanese have easier access to primary source document, we thought story about kidnapping 200,000 girls was just a joke. But Koreans meant it. In 2011 South Korean NGO influenced by North Korea erected statue of Comfort Woman in front of Japanese Embassy in Seoul. Again in 2015 this time the US acted as mediator Japan and Korea resolved the issue ‘finally and irreversibly’. Japanese government expressed that it was aware of its responsibility and Premier Abe expressed anew his most sincere apologies and remorse. ROK government stated it acknowledged Japan’s concern over statue and it strived to solve the issue. In Japan they say Koreans move goal post whenever new President needs it. But we thought this time was the last. We thought this time we could finally came to reconciliation. Then here comes Brookhaven, Georgia! Those clowns effectively destroyed ‘final’ chance of reconciliation between Japanese and Koreans. What a pity neighbors we are! r.w.

No.3

In brookhaven, Let's Put Women First Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once stood before given the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and declared that “Women’s rights are human rights.” At first glance, it would appear as though the mayor of Brookhaven, Atlanta, John Ernst, is trying to live up to the standard set by Hillary Clinton. After a vote by the city council on May 23, Brookhaven made the decision to memorialize so-called “comfort women” - women and girls who were allegedly trafficked by the former Japanese Army more than 70 years ago during World War II - by installing a statue in a yet-to-be-determined city park. “By establishing this memorial, we are raising awareness of the ongoing problems of sexual and human trafficking taking place in metro Atlanta and the world today,” said Ernst. However, the issue is not so black and white, and the statue’s installation is a grave mistake by Ernst and the Brookhaven city council. Many Americans are unlikely to be familiar with the issue of so-called “comfort women,” a disagreement rooted in the long history between South Korea and Japan. Regardless of what happened several decades ago, the successive Prime Ministers of Japan have already acknowledged and issued numerous official apologies for what happened during the war. At the end of 2015, South Korea and Japan officially put the comfort women issue to rest, putting an end to the rift that separated the two countries. This historic agreement still stands today, and remains important to U.S. foreign policy as we seek to unite American allies in the Asia-Pacific region as we face a belligerent North Korea. Although the installation of the comfort women statue appears good-natured on the surface, there are serious issues with permitting its installation. First, the Brookhaven statue undermines the delicate agreement reached between South Korea and Japan in 2015. Establishing the comfort women statue within the city effectively undermines the delicate international agreement reached by South Korea and Japan, and re-opens a rift in the thawing relationship between the two countries. It is uncertain whether Ernst or the city council is aware that it was in fact the United States that acted as the mediator for this historic agreement. Put simply, this is a bad foreign policy move, and could have serious consequences in the international arena. Perhaps more troubling, the Atlanta Comfort Women Memorial Task Force, a Korean advocacy group, actually approached the Brookhaven local government with the idea to establish this controversial statue, and they’ve spearheaded its installation. As State Rep. Tom Taylor (R-Dunwoody) said: “This is a small group of Korean-American activists pushing this [memorial] all across Georgia and [they] finally got a city to take the bait. This is a political group that basically wants to drive a wedge between Japan and Korea.” The Atlanta Comfort Women Memorial Task Force has been rumored to be affiliated with Pink Pony ? a local gentleman’s club that has been allegedly connected to human trafficking rings, and that is frequented by Korean businessmen. What’s disturbing is that Brookhaven has a legal ban on strip clubs, and yet the city has given Pink Pony permission to continue operating its business. During the investigation, it was reported that female victims were forced to dance at the Pink Pony while being held against their will. By focusing on a decades-old issue between two foreign countries, which has absolutely no relevance to the citizens of Brookhaven, it appears that the city of Brookhaven is either trying to divert attention away from issues with Pink Pony, or simply ignoring the local issue of human trafficking entirely. If Brookhaven is truly an advocate of “raising awareness of the ongoing problems of sexual and human trafficking,” and if they truly want to live up to Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s standards, they must prioritize the resolution of human rights issues that exist within the city before meddling in foreign affairs. There is no need for the city to install a statue that may potentially cause tension between countries in the Asia-Pacific region, especially at a time when we need our allies more than ever due to the North Korean threat. Fighting human trafficking can be done effectively at the grass-roots level, and the town would be wise to focus on the human trafficking issues right in front them, rather than capitulating to the requests of advocacy groups with a clear agenda. Brookhaven should live up to former Secretary of State Clinton’s standards; they must get to work rescuing the victims that are right in front of them. In this case, action should trump mere symbolism. Women’s rights are human rights, and the people of Brookhaven need to confront the challenges in their own community first and foremost. Ron Klink, democratic politician and Former Member of Congress

No.2

Hypocrisy on Display in Brookhaven, Georgia Who would think that Brookhaven, Georgia would be the center of a diplomatic dispute between Japan and South Korea? But they are. Brookhaven has decided to take a stand against the sexual exploitation of women by erecting a statue to honor “comfort women” who were exploited during World War II. This town is the venue for the statue, because the town has a large Korean population and they wanted to use the city’s agreement to erect a statue to embarrass the Japanese government and Japanese people living in the area. This issue has caused great diplomatic problems between South Korea and Japan. The facts of the exploitation are in dispute. According to a New York Times report from earlier this year “The issue of the women has been one of the most emotional disputes between South Korea and Japan. Historians say that at least tens of thousands of women, many of them Korean, were in the brothels from the early 1930s until 1945. A total of 238 women have come forward in South Korea, but fewer than 40 are still living, all of them in their 80s and 90s.” This seems like an unnecessary monument for a town in Georgia. When you think about the exploitation of women as a national issue, it is a very important issue. Exploitation happens with sex trafficking here in the United States today. Yet, this statue seems like a special interest push by Korean people living in Georgia who want to use this exhibit to educate Americans about a World War II era problem. Most Georgians would rather see a statue that hits more close to home. Brookhaven is the home to many Korean-Americans, yet the city seems like the wrong venue for this type of memorial because of this city’s history. The city does not come to this controversy with clean hands. A town near Brookhaven, Sandy Springs, was home to a man who was arrested for allegedly engaging in human trafficking. The man was tried and accused of recruiting women from a strip club called the Pink Pony, a strip club right in Brookhaven, then imprisoning them and forcing them into the sex trade. The defendant argued that the women were working for him under their own free will. No matter who you believe, many would consider the strip club and the possibility of sex for hire workers in the area to be exploitation that hits closer to home than “comfort women” from WWII. The town of Brookhaven sees fit to put up a statue to honor women who were sexually abused and exploited in Korea, yet they have cut a special deal with this club to operate in Brookhaven. Ironically, the city has a ban on strip clubs, yet they have made an exception for this club. Brookhaven is trying to erect statues focusing on historical issues relating to women, at the same time what about the human rights of the women in the local community? Korean interests in the city pressured the city to become “the first city in the Deep South to memorialize the ‘comfort women’ - women and girls who were enslaved and sexually trafficked by the Japanese Army during World War II.” Where is the monument to Brookhaven’s comfort women? The hypocrisy is thick. Between the diplomatic problems this may cause, the conflict between individual Korean and Japanese citizens and the fact that the monument does not speak to exploitation that has happened in the city of Brookhaven ? this seems like a bad idea. Commentary of "Daily Surge" on Installation of the Comfort Women Memorial at Brookhaven, GA

No.1

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/594d3d5de4b0c85b96c658c3 “Illegal” Cover-ups in Brookhaven 06/23/2017 12:10 pm ET - HUFFPOST(Contributor: Tommy Wyher, marketing writer from Tampa, Florida) “By establishing this memorial, we are raising awareness of the ongoing problems of sexual and human trafficking taking place in metro Atlanta and the world today.” These were the words uttered by the mayor of Brookhaven, John Ernst. This comment was made alongside the decision to install in Brookhaven the statue that is the symbol of the Korean women who were sexually assaulted by the former Japanese Army during World War II, which ended over 70 years ago. These Korean women are known as “comfort women.” At a glance, it seems that Brookhaven is tackling this human rights issue in earnest. However, we cannot ignore the fact there are still a several problems that they must face with great seriousness. Does this have echoes of the Pink Pony case from earlier this year and ban on strip clubs? What is the Legal Ban on Strip Clubs? Earlier this year a trial was held against Kenndric Roberts in the neighboring city of Sandy Springs. Roberts not only kept eight women in confinement, but he was also arrested for human trafficking. It has been reported that these women were kept under confinement at the strip club Pink Pony, for the purpose of forced labor. Pink Pony is not just a strip club. Pink Pony continues to operate its business even now, within Brookhaven, where there is a legal ban on strip clubs. Why is Pink Pony’s business allowed to continue? Because at the end of 2014, Brookhaven signed an astonishing contract with Pink Pony. The strip club would be allowed to continue its business if it paid $225,000 per year to the city. This bizarre behavior, where a city violates the law that it has enacted itself, became target of criticism. This is not simply a matter of violating the law. Pink Pony’s “business license fee“ was allocated to the expenses incurred by police patrols for maintaining safety within the area. This amounted to $56,000, paid by Pink Pony, for three months. However, it became apparent that this amount was not enough. According to documents released by the city, Brookhaven Police Department’s expenses amounted to a total of $71,905. This constituted a shortfall of $15,905 for three months, a total of approximately $63,000 per year. However, Brookhaven announced that it had no intention of collecting this deficit from Pink Pony, making the decision to let the citizens pay for it. In other words, the city violated the law, allowed the strip club to operate, wasted its citizens’ tax money, and engendered the crime of human trafficking. Ignorance of History and Diplomacy Ordinary American people are unlikely to be familiar with the comfort women statue. This issue is rooted in the long history between South Korea and Japan. There are differing opinions with regard to the historical facts. The Korean Government claims that 200,000 to 300,000 Koreans were raped by the former Japanese army. However, a South Korean history professor rejects this claim, and many divided opinions can be seen even across South Korea. Regardless of any investigations into the truth of this claim, the successive Prime Ministers of Japan have already acknowledged and issued numerous official apologies with regard to this crime, alleged to have been committed in the past, during the military era, more than 70 years ago. Although it is difficult to imagine looking at the country as it is today, Japan was in fact a military state until the end of World War II. At the end of 2015, South Korea and Japan made an agreement to draw a line under the comfort women issue, putting an end to the rift that separated the two countries. At the present state, the agreement between South Korea and Japan, to draw a line under this abominable historical issue of the comfort women, still stands. Establishing the comfort women statue within Brookhaven effectively takes the meaning away from the international agreement made by South Korea and Japan, re-opening the rift in the thawing relationship between the two countries. It is uncertain whether Brookhaven knows that it was in fact the United States that acted as the mediator for this agreement between South Korea and Japan. Furthermore, rumors in the local cannot be disregarded that the Atlanta Comfort Women Memorial Task Force, which is a Korean group and has been approaching the Brookhaven to establish this disputed statue, is closely related with Pink Pony. The Citizens’ Concerns The deficit generated by the strip club, Pink Pony, has nothing to do with the citizens, so can this amount be deducted from our taxes? Is the city thinking about rescuing the American human trafficking victims related to the Pink Pony strip club, which the city is allowing to operate? Who will punish the city for violating its own laws? Will it be the police? Was the electorate (citizens with voting rights) asked whether it would be acceptable to bring into Brookhaven a diplomatic issue between two countries, South Korea and Japan, which are located over 10 hours’ away by plane? By focusing on a historical issue between two foreign countries, which has absolutely no relevance to the citizens, isn’t the city trying to divert attention from the problem with Pink Pony? What Must Be Done for Brookhaven to Become an Example of “Truth” in Relation to a Human Rights Issue Brookhaven -an advocate of “raising awareness of the ongoing problems of sexual and human trafficking”- must prioritize the resolution of the human rights issue that exists within itself, before showing its support for human rights issues occurring elsewhere. The city does not need to install a statue that may potentially require the involvement of the White House. It is clear how the city must respond to its citizens and electorate: 1. Adhere to the law. 2. Rescue the victims that are right in front of them. 3. Prevent the recurrence of human trafficking. It is now worth paying close attention to any future declarations to be made by Mayor Ernst.