Photo: the first Wednesday Protest from 1992. Credit: Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance.
On January 8, 2022, the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance 정의기억연대 held its 1,525th regular Wednesday Protest 수요집회 demanding the resolution of the issue of “Comfort Women 종군위안부,” or Imperial Japan’s sexual slavery during World War II.
The protest, which began on January 8, 1992 on the occasion of the then-Japanese Prime Minister Miyazawa Kiichi’s visit to Seoul, has been the world’s longest running protest on a single issue since 2014, with the record extending each week.
For this round of protest, however, the 300-odd protesters were not able to meet at their traditional location near the Statue of Peace 평화의 소녀상 near the Japanese Embassy commemorating Comfort Women; conservative civic groups took the spot for their counter-protest, demanding the statue to be taken down.
