Senate Resolution No. 2648

BY: Senator PHILLIPS

COMMEMORATING the 5th Anniversary of the New York
State Memorial Monument that pays tribute to
'Comfort Women'

WHEREAS, During the Japanese colonial and wartime occupation of Asia
and the Pacific Islands from the 1930s through the duration of World War
II, approximately 200,000 young women were coerced into the Comfort
Women system of forced military prostitution; and

WHEREAS, In 2011, a civil group began erecting statues of peace
showing a seated women dressed in traditional Korean garb, first outside
the Japanese Embassy, and later around the world; and

WHEREAS, On June 16, 2012, the Comfort Women Memorial Monument was
established in the Veterans Memorial at Eisenhower Park in Westbury, New
York, to honor and commemorate the victims of the Comfort Women system;
and

WHEREAS, The Memorial Monument, being the second memorial of its
kind in the United States, symbolizes suffering endured by comfort women
and serves as a reminder of the crime against humanity committed through
the Comfort Women system; and

WHEREAS, The 110th Congress, United States House Resolution 121
called on the Japanese government to acknowledge, apologize, and accept
responsibility for the coercive recruitment of young Korean women into
the system; and

WHEREAS, In December of 2015, more than 70 years since the end of
World War II, South Korea and Japan reached an agreement to resolve
their dispute over the people exploited as comfort women; the Japanese
government officially apologized and promoted to pay an $8.3 million
settlement to care for the many women involved in this demoralizing
system; and

WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body to recognize
historical monuments within the State of New York that are established
to increase awareness of serious events that have taken place in
history; and

WHEREAS, The United Nations reports that 2.4 million people across
the globe are victims of human trafficking at any one time, and 80
percent of them are being exploited as sexual slaves; now, therefore, be
it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 5th Anniversary of the New York State Memorial Monument
that pays tribute to 'Comfort Women'; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to the Korean American Public Affairs Committee, the
Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Korean American Civic
Empowerment.