Pig slashed in 'protest'

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From Ananova:

 

Pig slashed in war crimes bust-up between World Cup

hosts

 

Eight South Korean protesters have slashed a live pig

with a kitchen knife near the Japanese embassy in

Seoul.

 

The protesters say their action was over " Japan's

failure to make amends for its war crimes. "

 

The men, identifying themselves as former soldiers,

are angry about Sunday's surprise visit by Japan's

prime minister to a controversial Tokyo shrine devoted

to the war dead.

 

" The pig represents unrepentant Japan, " said Oh

Bok-sung, 44, who led the protest against Premier

Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine.

 

Other reports said the pig had the word " Koizumi "

painted on its side.

 

When the men's van was stopped by police 30 yards from

the Japanese embassy, the men slashed the pig and

threw it out of their vehicle.

 

Yasukuni Shrine honours about 2.5 million Japanese war

dead, including executed criminals such as Second

World War-era Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. It was used

by the government during the war to promote

nationalism and the conquest of Asia.

 

South Korea, a former colony of Japan, is sensitive to

any Japanese moves that it perceives as attempts to

glorify its wartime and colonial-era treatment of

Koreans.

 

South Korea has filed an official protest with Japan

over Koizumi's action. South Korean Foreign Minister

Choi Sung-hong summoned Japanese Ambassador Terusuke

Terada to his office and expressed " strong regrets " .

 

South Korean officials are worried the controversy

could chill the festive and cooperative mood building

for the football World Cup, which the two countries

are co-hosting from May 31 to June 30.

 

Story filed: 09:10 Tuesday 23rd April 2002

 

 

 

 

 

 

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