‘Girl of Peace statue’ to remain intact in central in Berlin

There is a growing chance the “Girl of Peace Statue” in Mitte borough, Berlin, Germany, which was once under controversy over possible removal, will be kept intact within the city’s center permanently. The borough’s council has passed a resolution to the effect that the statue can be kept at the current location until it will decide whether to keep the statue there.

According to sources including the Korea Council, a civic group based in Germany, the Mitte Borough Council held a plenary meeting on Thursday, and put to a vote the resolution on the guaranteed safety of the Girl of Peace statue. Of the 52 council members present at the meeting, 39 cast yea vote and 13 others nay to pass the resolution. The borough’s council said the statue is not an issue of relations between South Korea and Japan, but should be approached from the perspective of war crime and halt of violence against women.

The Mitte Borough Council adopted in December last year the resolution on the Girl of Peace statue’s permanent installation, suggesting that the measure of keeping the statue in Mitte Borough continuously will be prepared through participation of the borough’s council. The decision was a follow-up to the December decision. The Mitte Borough Council plans to advise the borough office that the statue remains intact at the borough office based on the outcome of the vote. Earlier women of various nationalities demanded that the statue be kept intact during protest rallies marking the 113th World’s Women’s Day right in front of the statue.

The Statue of Peace in Berlin was placed at the central district in Mitte Borough in September last year for the first time among various public places in Germany. The Mitte Borough gave permission to keep the statue intact there, by saying that the statue serves public interest. But as the Japanese government made appeals repeatedly, the borough office ordered removal of the facility one month later. As civic groups submitted an injunction to court to suspend the effect of the order to remove the facility, the bid to remove the statue was withdrawn. The permission to keep the statue there will expire at the end of September.


Youn-Jong Kim zozo@donga.com