Why the ‘Comfort Women’ Statue Barricade is Finally Coming Down After 6 Years

The metal barricades that have enclosed the \"Statue of Peace\" in front of the former Japanese Embassy in Seoul are set to be removed after six years.

Police said they will take down the barricades around the statue in Jongno District ahead of the 1,751st weekly Wednesday rally demanding a resolution to Japan's wartime sexual slavery issue, scheduled for the 6th of next month.

The Jongno District Office, which manages the statue, placed it behind metal barricades in June 2020 amid concerns that rallies by groups opposing the comfort women issue could damage the monument.

Momentum for removing the barricades accelerated after Kim Byung-heon, leader of the group National Action to Abolish the Comfort Women Law—who had organized rallies that denigrated former comfort women—was arrested on charges including defamation of the deceased.

Accordingly, police temporarily removed the barricades around the statue during the Wednesday rally on the 1st.

Meanwhile, Justice and Memory plans to hold a ceremony at the Wednesday rally on the 6th to mark the removal of the barricades.