together and being in more rehabilitation states that a lut of people don't understand, which being building things and which you are going to demolish. i agree with building it and putting all the money out for all these projects, but i think that these buildings stand for a long time for [inaudible] new medical procedures and health issues which i'm trying to go to school and trying to enroll in for [inaudible] and mathematics and other

[inaudible] might be required at school so they can understand because when i did last time they changed the paperwork on me so i had to pay for it all and i didn't have the money. i was broke and [inaudible] that was kind of revenge against women to be in that situation. >> next speaker please. >> my name is gene b chan of the [inaudible] coalition. cofounder in 1997 by the late doctor [inaudible] japanese american humanitarian and group of diverse individuals of chinene, korean, jewish and

japanese descent. board members included fred [inaudible] gordon [inaudible] and ron [inaudible] we miss them very much. they passed on but their legacy of justice and fairness will live forever. i will speak from a very personal pir spective. i lived through the japanese invasion. i ran away from the japanese invasion. i was in the chinesevilleolog, but the japanese soldiers came every night to threaten us. i had a little brother who got sick and didn't have enough food, he didn't have enough medicine and died and as a result my parents have no son. they have 5 more girls, but lost their only sun in the hands of the japanese invaders. when yfs 8 we had to

run away from the japanese again and usually go to the mountains but it rained the night before, the bridge had been washed out so we could want go to the mountant so we just hid behind the bushes and in a river and are remember i turned blue and i saw japanese pointing pay bayonets behind me. they didn't fine me. [inaudible] many died serving the so called, giving comfort to the japanese soldiers. 35 million japanese and asians didn't survive like i did. let's put politics aside-- >> thank you very much. thank you very much, next speaker. >> good evening supervisors. my name is [inaudible] i'm with

the filipino womens network. i first learned comfort wemson a name assigned to sexual slaves as a institution created by the japanese military. my mother would tell about stories how she or her sisters would hide when japanese soldiers go house to house looking for girls. i became more familiar with the filipino comfort women when i met eve ansler the authsqur play right of the vagina monologue who wrote about the comfort women when she met the women in the fill apeens. every years our organization put on a show to raise awareness about the kories about these women who raised money for them. we send money because they are now in 8 o's

and 90's. every wednesday they are that japanese embusaes in the philippines waiter for apology. i'm here to speak for them. the majority of them are old, all 200 thousand of them. chinese, filipinos [inaudible] their stories can not day. we have to keep reminding our next generation about what they have done. it is important that san francisco build a memorial in memory of the girls and women who suffered a sex slavs. we need a place of rememerance and reflection, especially so that that doesn't happen again. let us join 8 other cities in the u.s. that built memorials to remember the comfort women. i ask you to support this resolution. thank you. >> good evening, i'm

[inaudible] of the korean association. i urge you to support the resolution to remember the comert women. durs the second world war, korean young women were kid napped and forced as sex slaves to japanese soldiers. as a child, i read about their lives, terrible sad stories and i feel so sad and helpless because i could not do anything to help them. i was not even born when this tragic thing happen but now i have a choice to help them to be remembered and i want to do my part to remember them. and i hope the san franciscan's can remember

them also. please, please build a monulate in san francisco so that not only i but also my children can go qu pray for them and for world peace. i wish no il will ill for anyone but we need a place to present flowers to those women who suffered so much. if they were alive, they would be our grand mothers age. i [inaudible] the winston church ilwho said no who failed to learn from history are doomed to repate t. thank you. >> thank you very much, next speaker. >> my name is tim smith. i worked in japan for over 20 years. i assure the-i support

the resolution, but it doesn't go far enough chblt he who is without sin should not cast the first stone. without about our memorial glorifying u.s. empyrealism in the philippines? union square, 100 feet high. 200 thousand filipinos killed by u.s. empyrealism. let's build a monulate to all victimoffs war crimes not just by japanese but our own troops and military system. thank you. >> thank you next speaker. >> thank you supervisors. i wasn't planning to speak but i just saw this resolution. what in the world in san francisco-i'm referring to comfort women. what in the

world-i am a [inaudible] this setting up a statue or whatever it happened in some city and that reinforcing something negative not something happened in the past, let's not forget about the history rsh bet think we need to move on. yes, it happened. san francisco and 8 other cities somewhere in parts of the world, it happened, but kids who have to hear this like myself hear people elder age people experience it, but i would prefer something in the city council members speaking something win not hear the memory like the gentlemen said maybe we need other memorial or

more memorials for all the human sacrifice and human trafficking is totally happening in current stage not like other comfort women things so we need to focus on what-i think for the human sake, what is more important than spending land and money to build for the memorial? thanks so much. >> next speaker. >> good afternoon supervisors. my name is jen dpr chung. i'm a member of san francisco bay area coalition to commemorate the pacific war. i'm here to support the resolution to [inaudible] the comfort women moy mooreial site in san francisco. i heard stories from 87 year old veetietnamese woman. she told me she saw her neighbors daughters breasts get

cut off by japanese soldiers. unbelievable isn't it, but that is the truth. not fabicated. we are the young generation and have the right to know the truth of history. we should know at least 200 thousand young women and girls in china, korea and [inaudible] were kid napped and forced to be sex slaves to the japanese army. this young womans painful experience was large scale of human traffics in the world in the last century. they were forced and had no choice. they suffered from tocher, rape and humiliation every day. they cry, they scream, but no one can help them. some of them die from it. some of them commit suicide because they couldn't handle it, yut some

survived by they have to carry this for the rest of their life. dobet they dissever respect and sympathy? san francisco is one of the most diverse city and proud to tell people i'm a san franciscan's. this will be nob nub this memorial will serve as a good lessen to future generation tooz learn that we all have equal rights tooz live. no one has the roit to commit atrocity against others and tell the victims community, letsd rr forget and go on. >> thank you. thank you very much. next speaker. >> my name is michael wong. i'm from veterans repeat san francisco. i'm also a native san francisco born and raised mpt the comfort woman history is well established by korean,

chinese, japanese sources as well as european and filipino and othern. sources. there doubt that over 1 or 200 thousand women were forced into sexual slavery by the japanese military and contractors. confronting the truth and openly discussing the past is the best way to avoid repeting the past and together building a better fuper for all people. this statue honors the suffering of innocence and is one step towards closure and moving on to better mutual fuch frr all people. one of the reasons that i'm here is because the japanese peace movement raiched out to veterans for peace and asked us to support them in speaking out against the militarization of japan and deninel of wrk w 2

war crime squz the comfort women issue. polls in japan show the peace movement has majority of support even though the right wing in japan has the big money. this isn't about japan bashishing or bashing japanese, this is about working with counter parts in japan working for peace for all. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> my name is martha hobert and i'm here because i support the installation of a kachue commemorating these women. this ushue is pushed under the carpet for a long time and need to realize history will repeat itselfinous we pay attention to what happened. we haven't pass thtd equal right amendment, it is horrible what is happening in terms of women and their lives and the future for young

women. i advice you to go along with making this statute come to being and i'll be there to help commemorate it. >> thank you next speaker. >> thank you. my name is [inaudible] and involved in women international league for freedom [inaudible] like many others i'm here to support the installation of a memorial for comfort women here in san francisco. i think the city has a lot to be proud of in terms of the big vision and the way that it is possible to blend international and local issues. this is a very diverse city as pleny people said. the only way we are going to face the past is by the truth and as other speakers said brushing under the rug doesn't serve anyone. i think that open discussion is something however

difficult is beholden upon us so that this is not repeated. recently i was in north and south cureea and so many are concerned about the comfrtd women issue. as others said it goes beyond korea so women from other countries were deployed by the empyreal army of that time. congratulations to the people who have brought this motion before the board of supervisors and i would like to see it passed. thank you. >> thank you next speaker >> my name is aidren faung and i'm a resident and native of san francisco and know this issue of comfort wemson a controversial issue but

[inaudible] from the history books and what san francisco represents a history of peace is not the solution. i hope the board of supervisors will consider this so we can move on and history dozen repeat itself. thank you. >> thank you next speaker. >> my name is [inaudible] i'm also a native san franciscan. i'm a supporter of veterans for peace and ask you please establish the statute. san francisco deserves it and so do that. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> [inaudible] i'm here to support the memorial of comfort women. [inaudible] growing up in japan i have seen a number of

survivors of the system came out and speak and also i saw that many japanese women including my mother tried to learn from the testimony and supported those women. i would like toemphasize the issue is confronting the past crime is a very important place to create collaborative future and think about where we would like to go from here to build for our future. i also would like to express my concern of the japanese right wing groups. [inaudible] with historian in

korea and japan and china and many other parts of asia and u.s. and europe and >> you have 29 seconds left. >> [inaudible] by historians without [inaudible] interpretation based on that contextual knowledge. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> hi. my name is [inaudible] i'm 87 years old. i come here for [inaudible] in san francisco. i'm sorry, my poor

english. i live in the united states since 1952 and but still my english is very poor, sorry, i try. during world war 2, i was a high school student and we all hungry and [inaudible] in peoples uniform we are supposed [inaudible] any how, [inaudible] [singing] korean people [inaudible] korean

people say [inaudible] it is money money. you get the money, you get the food. we have money. we just keep smiling and [inaudible] >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you very much. thank you. next speaker. >> my name is [inaudible]. i

came to san francisco 1972 and i became a citizen of the united states. i just wanted to say that i am very against having the statue here in san francisco and which my create hate issue between korea and japan. this is really political issue that you supervisors need to study history background, where it is coming from and then evaluate it. it is for the future for the kids, for everybody else in the city and think it st. nothing to do with san francisco and also between japan and korea issue is separate. why do we have to

bring this issue, this happened a long time ago and think you should really evaluate it well in order to decide and this is what i wanted to say today. thank you so much. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello, my name is marial wong. i wanted to talk about the issue of comfort women statue. so, i have been hearing a lot of the testimonys and people say we should remember history and make sure to honor those people and to not brush away those historical issues under the rug, but the main concern for me is that there is this report called the, iwg report. it was said earlier by a person and this was a u.s. government

interagency group that did research about the comfort women issue. the total research the u.s. government fbi, cia agents and hisical special ist gave 30 million dollars to conduct research on about 8 million pages of material regarding the information gathered regarding japanese war crimes and after analyzing those documents, these are specialized people that are intelligent and educated and they have been doing a lot of research for 7 or8 years regarding this topic, but in the report it specifically states that no large [inaudible] remain classified on the comfort women issue was

not there. i'm left to think if the u.s. government wasn't able to find any information about the comfort women issue, then shouldn't we reconsider putting up the statue? there is so much research done but- >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> honorable members of the board, meeuf name is phillip choi and live in sun set district. i'm here to voice my support for the resolution to build a statue to commemorate the comfort womens issue. i have been a news reporter in hong kong for many year jz and

i see a lot of footage in my library and tv stations of all kinds of atrocity during the second world war. discusing this issue isn't about china against korea or china against japan, it is about a human being. should we respect those women who were forced to be a sex slave in the second world war? well, we hear so many arguments today, but i think the fact is very simple and true and that is, a lot of wumen sufferic during the second world wor and now as a local communities we have over 200 organizations petitioning using their own money to build a statue in our own community. it says to provide some justice

to this thousands of women being raped and forced as a sex slave and hopefully on the 70 anniversary of the second world war we can provide the world the truth about the issue even though up to now we haven't heard any acknowledgment and about the comfort women from the official japanese channel. thank you very much for your time. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> sfgtv, please. >> madam president and supervisors, my name is [inaudible] executive vice president for the global alliance for preserving the history of world war 2 in asia.

i'm here today for 2 reasons, one is deliver this letter from congressman [inaudible] to support this resolution. mr. honda was a inturn during world war 2 because of hisith nisty and later becomes a leader force advocating the policy and [inaudible] he was fighting for human right throughout his career from supervisor to the assembly men in california and then congressman. so, i want to present it to you and also a copy of this let ter to all of you are in your inbox today. second rkts, i also want to comment because a number of people recollect the iw gerks, i was the one draft the

resolution on behalf of senator dianne finestein. these people speaking of that research should have their facts checked. those are a bunch of lies. thank you. >> thank you very much, next speaker. >> [inaudible] i'm a social worker. this is united states, why bring up the long time history? if you do that you have to make all kinds of [inaudible] of the city of san francisco. this is u.s., america and i am a american citizen. 50 years ago-we have to hold the hands with the whole nation, russian,

american, chinese korea, we should hold hands, not against. you don't need a comfort women statue. where don't agree we have to hold hands to show the children [inaudible] we as americans. you don't want to build a statue. you dig up all the histories. we are the american, you live in san francisco. this is not the korea countries. this is issue different. this is a u.s., we are living america. don't fight, please. everyone hold hand. i do not agree for this statue. thanks. >>