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Koreas warn Japan against return to militarism
Seoul, Aug 16: Scholars from North and South Korea today warned against Japan`s military rearmament as new friction emerged over long-standing territorial disputes.
Seoul, Aug 16: Scholars from North and South Korea
today warned against Japan's military rearmament as new
friction emerged over long-standing territorial disputes.
The warning came at a seminar which was part of two days of joint celebrations for the 57th anniversary of the end of Japanese colonial rule. North Korea sent 116 pro-unification activists for the festival. The joint statement said, "Today, Japan is committing fresh wrongs by distorting historical facts, worshipping executed war criminals, seeking to dispatch its troops abroad and building up its arsenal." The statement came as Japan expressed opposition to a South Korean plan to make a small island claimed by both countries into a national park.
Dokdo, which is known as Takeshima in Japanese, has been a recurring source of conflict.
The island is in the sea between the rival states known as the East Sea by Koreans and the Sea of Japan by Japanese.
The statement urged Koreans to oppose Tokyo's textbooks that critics say gloss over Japanese wartime atrocities and reject its claim to Dokdo island and "Japan's rearmament into a military power."
"All patriots living in the north, the south and abroad, must unite and join forces in leading a joint campaign to extract apology and compensations from Japan," it said.
The festival, which was designed to promote rapprochement between the two Koreas, featured art performances, photo exhibitions, seminars and other events.
Bureau Report
The warning came at a seminar which was part of two days of joint celebrations for the 57th anniversary of the end of Japanese colonial rule. North Korea sent 116 pro-unification activists for the festival. The joint statement said, "Today, Japan is committing fresh wrongs by distorting historical facts, worshipping executed war criminals, seeking to dispatch its troops abroad and building up its arsenal." The statement came as Japan expressed opposition to a South Korean plan to make a small island claimed by both countries into a national park.
Dokdo, which is known as Takeshima in Japanese, has been a recurring source of conflict.
The island is in the sea between the rival states known as the East Sea by Koreans and the Sea of Japan by Japanese.
The statement urged Koreans to oppose Tokyo's textbooks that critics say gloss over Japanese wartime atrocities and reject its claim to Dokdo island and "Japan's rearmament into a military power."
"All patriots living in the north, the south and abroad, must unite and join forces in leading a joint campaign to extract apology and compensations from Japan," it said.
The festival, which was designed to promote rapprochement between the two Koreas, featured art performances, photo exhibitions, seminars and other events.
Bureau Report