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At the end of last month, the ‘Statue of the Girl of Peace’, which was erected in the center of the city of Berlin, the capital of Germany, was on the brink of demolition. The district office in Berlin cited reasons such as that the Statue of the Peace Girl worsened relations between Germany and Japan. Behind the scenes, the Japanese government appears to have doggedly pressured the German government to topple it. Reporter Park Cheol-won reports. At the end of last month, the inauguration ceremony of the Girl of Peace was held on a street in Mitegu, central Berlin, Germany. This is a fruitful result after a Korean-related civic group put a lot of effort into security and carefully promoted it since last year for fear of interference from Japan. However, as feared, after receiving protests from the Japanese government, Mitegu sent a letter to civic groups demanding the removal of the statue. It has also been broadcast that if it is not voluntarily demolished by the 14th, it will be enforced and the cost of removal will also be billed to civic groups. They told me that the reason for the demolition of Mitegu was that relations between Germany and Japan were deteriorating due to registrations that were not announced in advance. Also, at the time of installation, they agreed to install the statue because it addresses the issue of violence against women committed during the war, but it was not. The civic group that oversaw the statue’s construction said it would persuade Mitegu through dialogue, but made it clear that it would not easily withdraw. The representative of the civic group, including filing an interim injunction with the court, said: “I will form an alliance of 40 civic groups in Germany and the guardian of the girl.” Earlier, it was reported that the Japanese government relentlessly lobbied the German government to demolish it right after the girl’s statue was installed. In particular, Chancellor Motegi admitted that he had expressed strong dissatisfaction with German Chancellor Haiko Mas on day 1, saying that the statue of the girl was inappropriate. The Korean government criticized pressure from the Japanese government to demolish the Peace Girl Statue installed in central Berlin as “a measure that goes against Japan’s sense of responsibility and apology.” This is YTN Park Cheolwon.
