Director's Statement

Habitual sadness. Why does sadness become habitual? These dear woman, harumoni, play a much more active role in this film than the one before. In casually pointing out certain scenes to be included, they decided on the content of the film even before I did. Their exaggerated acting some times embarrassed even myself. While intently watching these dear woman, I did not feel happiness but sadness. Like shackles binding their arms I felt this habitual sadness, and it wasn't just because I remembered the reality that they were hauled away and used as comfort woman by the Japanese Army.

As soon as Kang Dok-yung realized her lifetime was limited, she feared nothing more than being forgotten. Like many woman who have lived in silence for the past fifty years, the thing she feared most when she revealed to the world that she had been a comfort woman, was that the courage it had taken to give out her name when so frightened would be pushed aside and once again forgotten. It's her dream that in coming forth she could have an effect on the world.

Perhaps this is the source of the sadness we habitually feel in our daily lives as woman. Habitual Sadness is not my film. All I did was gather together what these woman wanted to show to world-their discussions and everyday lives. The one thing, however, that I would like to strongly emphasize is my determination of not to forget, perhaps unable to forget them. I think this determination is the only way that I can fulfill my gratitude, for these dear women that has given me the strength these past 5 years to learn about the world.