HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) – Four years ago, noticing plaques at the county courthouse commemorating slavery, the Holocaust and other atrocities, Korean-American community leader Chejin Park struck upon the idea of adding a tribute to the “comfort women” of World War II.
To his surprise, the seemingly small, local gesture to honor the more than 200,000 mostly Korean and Chinese women forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers would make a tiny northern New Jersey town a flashpoint in an international controversy.