Japan pulls out of South Korea naval drills over demands it remove ‘rising sun’ military flag
More than a dozen countries will take part in the five-day event and Seoul asks they display only their national flags and the flag of the host country
Japan has withdrawn from an international fleet review this week after rejecting demands that its warship take part without its “rising sun” flag ensign – regarded by many Koreans as a symbol of Japanese militarism and colonial rule.
South Korea – the host nation – had asked all 14 countries sending vessels to the five-day event, which begins on Thursday at a naval base on the island of Jeju, to ensure they display only their national flags and the flag of South Korea.
The rule – in effect a demand for Japan to remove the kyokujitsuki flag from a destroyer due to take part in the exercise – was introduced amid simmering bilateral disputes over Japan’s use of Korean sex slaves during the second world war and ownership of a group of islets called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea.
South Korea had conveyed its stance that “the Japanese side should fully consider the rising sun flag’s emotional connotation to our people”, the foreign minister, Kang Kyung-wha, said.
But Japan, whose maritime self-defence forces (SDF) were permitted to fly the flag during similar reviews in 1998 and 2008, said it had no choice but to withdraw.