By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter



Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima and participants of “Peace and Green Boat 2005” make paper cranes in a prayer for peace at the Shelter for Nuclear Victims in Hapchon, South Kyongsang Province, Monday as Korea celebrated the 60th anniversary of Liberation Day. /Korea Times

Civic groups of South Korea and Japan Monday urged Japanese leaders not to visit a controversial war shrine in Tokyo that honors its 2.4 million war dead, saying it would further strain ties between the two countries.
During a ceremony in Pusan marking the 60th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945), the Green Foundation of Korea and Japan’s Peace Boat issued a four-point joint statement calling on the Japanese government to ``face up’’ to its past militarism as well as cooperate in the negotiations over the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Since last Saturday, about 600 hundred people from the two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been undertaking a regional voyage called ``Peace and Green Boat 2005’’ through Japan, South Korea and China to promote peace and harmony in Northeast Asia aboard a 24,000-ton Japanese cruise liner.

``Japanese politicians’ repeated visits to the war shrine, a symbol of Japan’s past militarism, is a major obstacle to building peaceful and future-oriented relations between the two countries,’’ Choi Yeoul, director of the Green Foundation, an environmental civic group, said during a news conference at Pusan Democracy Park.

Tatsuya Yoshioka, director of Peace Boat, also called on Japanese ultra-conservative politicians to stop provocative activities that damage mutual relations.

``If Japanese politicians really want to go in the direction that the Japanese people want to go, they should stop visiting the war shrine,’’ he stressed.

He added that just as Korean civic groups waged a negative campaign against certain politicians, Japanese civic groups will do the same against Japanese politicians who continue to go to the war shrine.

Shinzo Abe, deputy secretary general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Monday visited the Yasukuni shrine where high-ranking Japanese war criminals have been laid to rest.

In recent weeks, Japan’s officials, including its Cabinet ministers, have visited the Yasukuni shrine, which honors 14 convicted Class-A war criminals responsible for atrocities during World War II, angering the people of Korea and China.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has visited the shrine four times since 2001, did not make the trip Monday, which also marked the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan.

The NGOs also demanded that Tokyo withdraw its approval of a nationalistic history textbook published by Fusosha for junior high schools. Critics say the schoolbook whitewashes its wartime record, including forcing Korean women into sexual servitude and use of germ warfare.

The groups voiced opposition to Tokyo’s move to amend Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution, which renounces war and the right to maintain armed forces to maintain peace in Asia after the end of World War II.

Last Friday in Meji Park, Tokyo, participants of the Peace Boat event constructed a candle-lit message that included the characters for ``peace’’ in Korean and Japanese and a huge ``9,’’ indicating Article 9.

The Peace Boat team continues its voyage through Aug. 27, stopping at ports in South Korea and China before arriving at the Japanese city of Nagasaki, where the U.S.-led allies dropped an atomic bomb on Aug. 11, five days after the Hiroshima bombing.

Tomorrow, the boat will also visit ``comfort women,’’ the Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves, in Inchon, just west of Seoul, following the visit to about 70 atomic war victims in Hapchon, North Kyongsang Province, Monday.

During the voyage, participants will engage in cultural exchanges and special study programs, including seminars, lectures and educational activities, to promote mutual understanding, peace and respect for the environment.

Among the high-profile figures joining the event are Goh Kun, former South Korean prime minister; Rep. Yoo Ihn-tae of the ruling Uri Party and Shin-ichi Tsuji, a Japanese anthropologist and the author of the book ``Slow Life.’’

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr