In a 1996 debate program on Japan’s Asahi TV, right-wing commentators mocked former Korean comfort women for demanding an apology, sneering, “Isn’t all they want compensation?” A woman in a red jacket calmly rebuked them: “That is an expression that insults human beings. Every person has dignity, and that is why their honor must also be restored.” Throughout the debate, she maintained her composure, elegantly dismantling the right-wing commentators’ distorted arguments point by point. The footage, still widely discussed today, has amassed 10 million views across YouTube and other social media platforms. The woman in the debate was Shin Sugok, a third-generation Zainichi — an ethnically Korean resident of Japan. At the time, she was an entrepreneur running a corporate consulting firm, as well as an author, critic and lecturer. She had achieved an unusually high level of success for a Zainichi woman. Despite countless threats from far-right groups in Japan, she has continued her activism for decades. A documentary film titled “Horoomon,” which chronicles Shin's life
Japanese Korean activist's takedown of far right goes viral online with 10 million views
In brief
In a 1996 debate program on Japan’s Asahi TV, right-wing commentators mocked former Korean comfort women for demanding an apology, sneering, “Isn’t all they want compensation? Throughout the debate, she maintained her composure, elegantly dismantling the right-wing commentators’ distorted arguments point by point. The woman in the debate was Shin Sugok, a third-generation Zainichi — an ethnically Korean resident of Japan.
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