Asian Women’s Shelter’s executive director shares how the organization began and how it works to serve “not either/or, but all” communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Orchid Pusey
Kyung-hee Cho, Assistant Professor, Institute for East Asian Studies, Sungkonghoe University
Kyung-hee Cho
The history of the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” issue has challenged long-standing conservative cultural norms regarding women and sexuality in Asia by amplifying the voices of the victims. Moreover, it has contributed to the establishment of globally significant norms and values related to women’s human rights. This means that the records documenting the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” issue and related activities meet the criteria of “world significance.”
Hye-in Han
The spread of “Comfort Women” memorials across different cities and countries offers insights into both possibilities and the limits of memory activism, especially in an era when the world continues to confront the legacies of colonialism, racism, and historical injustice.
Dr. Daniel Schumacher
The Contested Histories Initiative (CHI) is a Europe-based NGO dedicated to studying disputes over historical memorials in public spaces and promoting critical engagement with them. CHI’s Program Director, Paula O’Donohoe, spoke with Kyeol about the organization’s work and its broader vision.
Paula O’Donohoe
Marking the 20th anniversary of the ‘Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery in 2000’
Yang Mi-gang
In this conversation, Freedom United Executive Director Joanna Ewart-James and Kyeol examine how modern slavery is sustained by social and institutional systems, how collective action can drive meaningful change, and how historical awareness can deepen our understanding of injustices that persist today.
Joanna Ewart-James
The solidarity practice of Japanese citizens who finally realized the exhibition of the “Statue of Peace” through the “Non-Freedom of Expression Exhibition”—more than a decade in the making.
Kohei Kurahashi (倉橋耕平)
The Berlin Statue of Peace, established in 2020, marked an important milestone in the “Comfort Women” memorial movement as the first public memorial of its kind in Europe.
Jung-Hwa Han