‘Seoul wants better ties’: why Yoon isn’t upset over Japan’s demolished monument for wartime labourers
- A Japanese city’s decision to remove a memorial for wartime Korean labourers has enraged North Korea, but the South has remained largely quiet
- The move comes as Seoul is seeking better ties with Tokyo to counter Pyongyang, while a looming election and a Dior bag scandal also weighs on Yoon, analysts say
Last week, the authorities in Japan’s Gunma prefecture started demolishing the memorial at a public park in Takasaki city, despite opposition from local groups demanding the monument be preserved. The work is scheduled to be completed on Sunday.
Built in 2004, the memorial took the form of a stone wall with a plaque bearing the message “Remembrance, Reflection and Friendship” in Korean, Japanese and English, and a four-metre-tall gold pillar set into the concrete base. Visitors often left anti-war messages at the site, along with origami cranes that are a symbol of peace.
A citizens’ group obtained the permission of the prefectural government to erect the monument, but it quickly attracted criticism from conservatives on the grounds that it was “anti-Japanese”. A rival group claimed the memorial was becoming the focus of politically motivated events, which would contravene the qualified support of the prefecture.