NJ town’s monument upsetting Japanese officials
May 18, 2012, 8:30 PM
PALISADES PARK, N.J. (AP) – Japanese officials are asking a small northern New Jersey town with a large Korean immigrant population to remove a public monument dedicated to women who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during World War II.
The New York Times reports (
http://nyti.ms/Jp8uFB) in Friday’s edition that Palisades Park administrators were surprised by the request from two delegations of visiting Japanese officials.
Town officials have declined the request to remove the plaque. It was dedicated in 2010 to the “comfort women” of World War II, many of whom were Korean.
Chejin Park of the Korean American Voters Council, which supported the Palisades Park memorial, tells the newspaper that the Japanese governments’ opposition to it is galvanizing efforts in Korean communities across the U.S. to build similar memorials.
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Information from: The New York Times,
http://www.nytimes.com
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