Field Trip

12th April 2024, 11AM - 5PM

Field Trip to the War and Women's Human Rights Museum

Location

War and Women's Human Rights Museum
World Cup Buk-ro 11-gil 20, Mapo-gu

전쟁과여성인권박물관, 서울특별시 마포구 월드컵북로 11길 20(성산동)

Nearest subway: Mangwon (line 6) - 8 minute walk

Participants will have to pay their own entrance fee. Depending on the amount of participants it will range from 4000 - 5000 KRW.

We will meet outside the museum at 11am. Audio guides will be available. If the number of participants exceeds ten, a guided tour may be organized.

We will contact you by email regarding the visit schedule.

Reflection

Yonsei GSIS Human Rights Hub Field Trip to the War and Women's Human Rights Museum

On 12th April 2024, the Human Rights Hub organized a trip for our members to visit the War and Women's Human Rights Museum (전쟁과여성인권박물관) in Mapo-gu. This museum presented an important opportunity to learn more about the dark history of Japanese military sexual slavery pre and during World War II.

Tucked away on the corner of a quiet street in Mapo-gu, this museum is not exactly one you might happen upon by chance. Given how contentious the issue of "comfort women" has been not only for the domestic government but for South Korea-Japan diplomatic relations, it is unsurprising that the museum is relatively small and unheard of compared to the city's many other historical museums and memorials. Several of our members had not heard about the museum prior to our Hub's field trip, which reconfirmed the value of our organization's mission to empower people with knowledge and action items to advance human rights.

Upon paying our admission fee, free English audio guides were provided by the museum which walked us through an engaging collection of exhibits that encompassed sound installation, artwork, brick carvings, documentaries, historical artefacts, documents, photos and videos. The first few steps into the museum are some of the most powerful: you hear the context first through a soundscape of artillery and chaos, before noticing the shadows of young girls painted on the wall. Turning around, you are confronted by the cement casts of these comfort women, eyes closed and now aged; there is no room left for anonymity. Continuing through the museum, the full reality emerges: courageous victims of sexual violence who have all come forward, now tell their story here through their photographs and testimonies.

What sets this museum apart from others that recount wartime history is its focus and commitment to remembering and advocating for the victims of war—in this case, sexual slavery, specifically. It is all too common to see memorials that assimilate victims into a list of names, or worse, an unidentified mass that have no agency of their story (this is the nature of some particularly brutal regimes with poor record keeping). The War and Women's Human Rights Museum seeks to change the narrative of shame around victimhood, instead empowering women to defend their rights and advocate for justice, even decades later; it is never too late to stand up in the face of atrocities, particularly if it will inspire others in future generations to do the same. On the second floor of the museum, interactive screens presented information, photos, videos and documents for dozens of comfort women individually, to further humanize them. It invites the question: wouldn't you defend their rights if they were your mother, grandmother, sister, friend?

It is important to bear in mind that war museums typically assume the perspective and sympathies of the country they are based in. The same is true for this museum, which is largely focused on the experience of Korean civilian women; but part of why a visit here is so impactful is because there are elements that still surprised us, in a good way. First of all, despite the heavy subject matter, a feeling of hope and peace began to emanate as we moved through the museum and towards the exit: perhaps it was in part due to the beautiful spring weather outside, but the balcony memorial for the comfort women adorned with both real and crafted flowers provided an uplifting and reflective space that looked out onto the modern city Seoul has become. Furthermore, for anyone who has not seen or been to one of the Wednesday Demonstrations demanding Japan's redress of the comfort women issue, the museum highlights that despite connotations, the protests are actually quite a joyous occasion: they have created a vocal and lively community that sing, dance and give inspirational speeches in solidarity with women's rights. This message of hope is also ever-present in the garden space which visitors are welcome to spend time in, and a portion of the museum's funds goes towards maintaining this garden as a natural habitat for the many butterflies that come to enjoy it as well.

Finally, the content of the museum also touches upon the Vietnamese victims of Korean military sexual violence during the Vietnam War, the fact of which has been historically omitted from South Korean perspectives of wartime. This special exhibition exists in a separate space beneath the garden (be careful not to miss it!). On the first floor of the museum, just as we wrapped up our tour, the audio guide invited us to reflect on the dire circumstances of women's rights not just in Korea, but around the world, particularly in conflict-affected areas. There is a sense of urgency, yet optimism, that we might use the knowledge of the past to empathize with women all over the world and prevent such violence from ever occurring again.