Korean comedian Kim Gu-Ra has found himself facing criticism after an audio file containing his comments degrading comfort women on an Internet broadcast program was disclosed Monday.

In the audio file which lasts around thirty seconds, Kim compares comfort women to the eighty or so prostitutes who resisted an indiscriminate police crackdown in January 2002. 

It is understood that two buses were shared by the women as transport to a silent vigil, which was held in front of the National Human Rights Commission. Kim refers to them as “prostitutes who shared a ride on a chartered bus, a rare sight since comfort women,” triggering anger and criticism from online viewers.

The comment was made during Ddanzi Ilbo’s radio talk show Sisa Daedam, a media source reported.

Kim is also heard saying on the audio file that the bus driver was probably “aroused.”

Postings demanding that Kim take responsibility for his derogatory remarks are flooding the online homepage of the MBC talk show “Three Wheels,” which is hosted by Kim.

Kim’s remarks pose a question of the rights of both comfort women and prostitutes.

“How can someone make such inhumane comments on comfort women? One cannot but question his basic character,” said one viewer in a posting.

Others sympathized with Kim, saying that the criticism was too harsh considering the comments were made ten years ago.



By Gukby Sim

Intern Reporter
(simgukby@heraldcorp.com)