President Lee Jae Myung decried a far-right civic group under investigation for insulting statues representing victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery on Sunday, February 1, calling them 'beasts that must be isolated' from society. Police have launched an probe into Citizens' Action for the Abolition of the Comfort Women Law and its leader for defaming the deceased, hurling insults, and violating assembly and demonstration laws. The group is accused of hanging insulting banners outside high school campuses in southern Seoul and holding unauthorized rallies near the schools late last year.
President Lee Jae Myung strongly condemned a far-right civic group in a social media post on Sunday, February 1, 2026. The group, Citizens' Action for the Abolition of the Comfort Women Law, and its leader are under police investigation for defaming the deceased, hurling insults, and violating laws related to assembly and demonstrations.
The organization is accused of hanging banners with insulting phrases outside high school campuses in southern Seoul late last year, where statues honoring the victims are erected. The banners read, "Are they keeping a comfort women statue on campus to provide guidance into prostitution?" They also held unauthorized rallies near the schools.
"No Koreans, much less no human being, should be capable of calling victims of wartime sexual slavery -- war crime victims -- prostitutes," Lee said in the post. He highlighted the victims' suffering, noting they were forcibly taken to battlefields, sexually assaulted multiple times daily under constant fear of death, and ultimately massacred. "How can anyone wearing the face of a human be so cruel to their suffering?"
Lee rhetorically questioned how such individuals could muster the "enthusiasm, money and time" for this cruelty, emphasizing that freedom of expression has limits. "Just as my freedom exists, so too does the freedom of others," he stated. "Every community must uphold order, morality and the rule of law. ... Those who harm people like beasts must either be made to live as humans or be isolated (from society)."
This incident reignites debates over Japan's wartime sexual slavery issue, highlighting tensions between free speech and respect for historical victims. The statues, including one near the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul, serve as symbols reminding of the victims' pain.
