SOUTH KOREA: South Koreans stage an anti-Japan rally to mark the 95th anniversary of Independence Movement Day
Record ID:
214253
SOUTH KOREA: South Koreans stage an anti-Japan rally to mark the 95th anniversary of Independence Movement Day
- Title: SOUTH KOREA: South Koreans stage an anti-Japan rally to mark the 95th anniversary of Independence Movement Day
- Date: 1st March 2014
- Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (MARCH 1, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SOUTH KOREAN PROTESTERS WEARING MASKS OF JAPANESE POLITICIANS INCLUDING JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER SHINZO ABE, GESTURING WITH HANDS FOR APOLOGY ON THEIR KNEES. VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING ANTI-JAPAN SLOGANS: "WE WANT JAPAN'S APOLOGY! STOP DISTORTING HISTORY!" PLACARDS BEARING PICTURES OF ABE AND MESSAGES READING (English):"ENDING SHIZO ABE" AND (in Mandarin) "CONDEMNING JAPAN DISTORTING HISTORY" PROTESTERS CHANTING ANTI-JAPAN SLOGANS EXTERIOR OF JAPANESE EMBASSY BUILDING JAPANESE NATIONAL FLAG MORE OF PROTESTERS CHANTING (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) SOUTH KOREAN PROTESTER PARK CHAN-SUNG SAYING: "Today is the 95th anniversary (of the Independence Movement Day). We and the international community strongly condemn Japan's Shinzo Abe administration with its wartime atrocities, distortion of history, and its claim over Dokdo." PROTESTERS TRYING TO BURN PLACARD BEARING ABE'S PICTURE AND JAPANESE NATIONAL FLAG, POLICE MOVING IN AND STOPPING IT VARIOUS OF RALLY IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 16th March 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Korea, Republic of
- Country: South Korea
- Topics: History,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAAUY7ANPTUPT93EP1HRLX16S3F
- Story Text: South Korean protesters on Saturday (March 1) held an anti-Japan rally to mark the 95th anniversary of Independence Movement Day.
This year commemorates the 95th year of the declaration of the nation's independence from Japanese colonization on March 1, 1919.
Japan's ties with South Korea have been increasingly strained over a host of issues, including the territorial rows and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit late last year to the Yasukuni Shrine, where convicted war criminals are honoured along with millions of war dead.
The conservative Abe has said he wants to revise Japanese history to have a less apologetic tone, a sensitive topic for Asian neighbours such as South Korea and China, where memories linger of Japanese aggression before and during World War Two.
More than 100 protesters staged a rally in front of Japan's embassy in Seoul to denounce the Japanese government, and chanted anti-Japan slogans: "We want Japan's apology! Stop distorting history!"
Protest leader, Park Chan-sung said they condemned Japan's distortion of history.
"Today is the 95th anniversary (of the Independence Movement Day). We and the international community strongly condemn Japan's Shinzo Abe administration with its wartime atrocities, distortion of history, and its claim over Dokdo," said South Korean protester leader Park Chan-sung.
Japan's Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura said the ministry was revising the manuals to teach "properly" about Japanese history and that it would make diplomatic efforts to explain the move to Japan's neighbours. He said the teaching manuals would be changed to make clear that the rocky islets controlled by South Korea but claimed by both nations, known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, were Japanese territory.
Both China and Korea suffered under Japanese rule, with parts of China occupied in the 1930s and Korea colonised from 1910 to 1945. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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