[Photo] Children join comfort women protest on eve of Independence Movement Day

Feb. 28 was a Wednesday, which means that demonstrators gathered for their weekly protest in front of the Japanese embassy in the Jongno District of Seoul to demand that the Japanese government take action to resolve the ongoing comfort women issue. Feb. 28 marked the 1324th protest, which took place on a rainy day in the capital. Demonstrators held umbrellas or used newspapers to shelter themselves from the rain, while children held up small butterfly shaped picket signs.

The comfort women issue has become a major stumbling block in South Korea-Japanese relations, with the Japanese government of Shinzo Abe calling the matter settled, according to a Dec. 2015 agreement made with the Park Geun-hye administration. However, after a lengthy review by a South Korean Foreign Ministry task force was completed in Dec. 2017, President Moon Jae-in concluded that the agreement, “cannot solve” the dispute. (by Kim Seong-gwang, staff photographer)