Japanese nationalist group apologises for member who kicked Taiwan comfort woman statue
Right-wing group says representative who hit out at memorial to wartime sex slaves has resigned over ‘inappropriate’ behaviour
A Japanese right-wing group has apologised after a member kicked a statue of a “comfort woman” in Taiwan.
The apology on Thursday by “the Truth of Comfort Women Movement” said Mitsuhiko Fujii had resigned from his position with the group and conceded that his actions risked harming relations between Japan and the self-ruled island.
His actions had been branded “unacceptable” by the Taiwanese government and had prompted protests from human rights activists.
Fujii was filmed kicking at the statue outside the Tainan offices of the Kuomintang opposition party last Thursday.
He had been visiting to present a letter protesting against the memorial, the first one on the island.
It commemorates those forced to work as sex slaves by the Imperial Japanese forces during the second world war, euphemistically referred to in Japan as “comfort women”.