Japan regressing
In a case of bitter irony, a group of Koreans recently filed a lawsuit against the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo to have their relatives' names removed from the list of war dead honored there. The group of 11 plaintiffs includes an 82-year-old man who was forced to serve in the Japanese military during World War II when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, and whose name is listed there by mistake.
An estimated 21,000 Koreans are enshrined at Yasukuni along with 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including seven executed Class-A criminals. For many years now, Koreans have been attempting to get their relatives' names removed from the Yasukuni Shrine, all without success.
Last year, a Tokyo District Court rejected a demand by more than 400 Koreans that the Japanese government remove their relatives' names from the shrine, claiming that the government was not responsible for those enshrined at Yasukuni. The plaintiffs appealed the case, which is still pending at a higher court.
The latest lawsuit is the first time that Koreans are suing the Yasukuni Shrine. In addition to having the names removed, the plaintiffs are demanding compensation totaling 134.4 million yen ($1.14 million) and a public apology for the enshrinement of Koreans at Yasukuni without approval from their relatives.
Even in death, the Korean men who were killed fighting Japan's war against their will are subject to humiliation by being "honored" as Japan's war heroes.
As Koreans marked the 88th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement and President Roh Moo-hyun called on the Japanese government to take actions to resolve disputes over history textbooks, comfort women, and visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, across the East Sea, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denied that the Japanese military forced women into sexual slavery during World War II.
The nationalist prime minister is apparently in denial of Japanese documents discovered in 1992 that historians say showed the military's direct role in working with contractors to forcibly procure women for brothels. "The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion," Abe said. This was the clearest statement he has made on the issue since coming into office last September.
In a similar vein, a group of ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers want to revise a 1993 apology by Yohei Kono, the then-chief cabinet secretary, to the victims of sexual slavery. Nariaki Nakayama, chairman of the group of about 120 legislators pushing for the revision, to which Abe belongs, went so far as to compare the government's involvement to a school that contracts out cafeteria services to food companies.
Such crass remarks are sure to hurt relations between the two countries, especially at a time when close cooperation among South Korea, China and Japan are crucial in resolving the security threat in the region posed by a nuclear North Korea. It is unfortunate that instead of moving forward, Japan is on a path of regression.
Nakayama argues that the 1993 apology should be reconsidered "for the sake of Japanese honor." What about the honor of the 200,000 women who were forced into sexual slavery? Many of the victims have passed away without getting justice. The remaining survivors want their honor restored.
