Some students may be familiar with the Executive Council $5000 grant program. During last year’s assembly, the Executive Council announced that they would provide a $5000 grant for a club that needed the money. The club that got chosen could use that money to proceed with activities and events that the club felt was necessary for achieving their goal. Clubs were encouraged to submit an application for the grant which required clubs to fill out a written application as well as create a video depicting the project the club was envisioning.
Numerous clubs submitted their applications for the $5000 grant. They waited with nervous hearts, holding on to hope that their club could win the $5000 grant. After much deliberation, the Executive Council decided to give the majority of the grant to the Korean Culture Appreciation Club. KCAC proposed a project called “Remembrance of the Past.” The project’s aim is for officers to fly to the Republic of Korea, and interview surviving comfort women. The club would then compile all the interviews into a huge online database for the international community to access.
Comfort women are defined as women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Just last year December, the Japanese government proposed a deal to the South Korean government. The Japanese government would pay a sum of 8.3 million dollars in exchange for the South Korean government to never bring up the issue of comfort women ever again. The money would be used to support the lives of surviving Korean comfort women.
Many believe that a major reason the Korean government accepted the deal was due to immense pressure applied by the US government. The US government does not want the issue of comfort women to hurt the relationship between South Korea and Japan, as the US has major security and military interests in the area. Currently there are two US military bases in South Korea and a third base is under construction on Jeju Island. The United States has military bases in Japan as well.
The Korean government thus agreed to never bring up the issue again and to take down a statue commemorating comfort women in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, Korea. Just recently, South Korea also passed a piece of legislation that aimed to nationalize South Korean textbooks. This would mean that all high schools in Korea would study under the same textbooks. After striking the deal with the Japanese government, the South Korean government took out any graphic images regarding comfort women and the term “comfort women” from the textbook. The only way that comfort women are mentioned is through vague phrases such as “many women were hurt during the war.”
South Koreans severely criticized the South Korean government for complying with the Japanese deal. The surviving comfort women living in Korea responded to the deal by stating that their goal was not to receive money. All they wanted was a formal and sincere apology from the Japanese government, as well as allowing everyone to have access to information regarding the horrible things that happened to them.
Seeing that the Korean government was restricted on what it could do due to this deal, the Korean Culture Appreciation Club decided that they needed to do something about it. Thus, they proposed “Remembrance of the Past.” The Korean Culture Appreciation Club started off by contacting the Nanum Foundation. The Nanum Foundation is the organization that is in charge of supporting the surviving comfort women living in South Korea, as well as helping them go to protests and such. The Nanum Foundation agreed to allow members of the Korean Culture Appreciation Club to interview the comfort women. KCAC then contacted the USC Shoah Foundation. The USC Shoah Foundation was created by Steven Spielberg in order to preserve Holocaust history in the form of oral recordings. KCAC decided that because both the Holocaust and the comfort women issue happened during WWII, the Shoah Foundation would be interested in displaying the interviews of comfort women on the Shoah Foundation website. This would allow more people to access comfort women history.
Currently, the Korean Culture Appreciation Club is making preparations for flying to Korea to interview these survivors. They are preparing by taking lessons with a history teacher in order to further learn about the comfort women history, as well as taking workshops with numerous teachers regarding interview techniques, video techniques, and editing skills. This project will take place during Spring Break, as the officers of the club fly to Korea with the goal of preserving history. For more information, please email kcacsas@gmail.com
Yeop Lee
Numerous clubs submitted their applications for the $5000 grant. They waited with nervous hearts, holding on to hope that their club could win the $5000 grant. After much deliberation, the Executive Council decided to give the majority of the grant to the Korean Culture Appreciation Club. KCAC proposed a project called “Remembrance of the Past.” The project’s aim is for officers to fly to the Republic of Korea, and interview surviving comfort women. The club would then compile all the interviews into a huge online database for the international community to access.
Comfort women are defined as women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Just last year December, the Japanese government proposed a deal to the South Korean government. The Japanese government would pay a sum of 8.3 million dollars in exchange for the South Korean government to never bring up the issue of comfort women ever again. The money would be used to support the lives of surviving Korean comfort women.
Many believe that a major reason the Korean government accepted the deal was due to immense pressure applied by the US government. The US government does not want the issue of comfort women to hurt the relationship between South Korea and Japan, as the US has major security and military interests in the area. Currently there are two US military bases in South Korea and a third base is under construction on Jeju Island. The United States has military bases in Japan as well.
The Korean government thus agreed to never bring up the issue again and to take down a statue commemorating comfort women in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, Korea. Just recently, South Korea also passed a piece of legislation that aimed to nationalize South Korean textbooks. This would mean that all high schools in Korea would study under the same textbooks. After striking the deal with the Japanese government, the South Korean government took out any graphic images regarding comfort women and the term “comfort women” from the textbook. The only way that comfort women are mentioned is through vague phrases such as “many women were hurt during the war.”
South Koreans severely criticized the South Korean government for complying with the Japanese deal. The surviving comfort women living in Korea responded to the deal by stating that their goal was not to receive money. All they wanted was a formal and sincere apology from the Japanese government, as well as allowing everyone to have access to information regarding the horrible things that happened to them.
Seeing that the Korean government was restricted on what it could do due to this deal, the Korean Culture Appreciation Club decided that they needed to do something about it. Thus, they proposed “Remembrance of the Past.” The Korean Culture Appreciation Club started off by contacting the Nanum Foundation. The Nanum Foundation is the organization that is in charge of supporting the surviving comfort women living in South Korea, as well as helping them go to protests and such. The Nanum Foundation agreed to allow members of the Korean Culture Appreciation Club to interview the comfort women. KCAC then contacted the USC Shoah Foundation. The USC Shoah Foundation was created by Steven Spielberg in order to preserve Holocaust history in the form of oral recordings. KCAC decided that because both the Holocaust and the comfort women issue happened during WWII, the Shoah Foundation would be interested in displaying the interviews of comfort women on the Shoah Foundation website. This would allow more people to access comfort women history.
Currently, the Korean Culture Appreciation Club is making preparations for flying to Korea to interview these survivors. They are preparing by taking lessons with a history teacher in order to further learn about the comfort women history, as well as taking workshops with numerous teachers regarding interview techniques, video techniques, and editing skills. This project will take place during Spring Break, as the officers of the club fly to Korea with the goal of preserving history. For more information, please email kcacsas@gmail.com
Yeop Lee