South Korea makes Asian Games complaint over Japan warlord ceremony
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Signages of the 20th Asian Games on display in Nagoya, central Japan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- South Korea's Olympic committee filed a complaint over a Japanese warlord character, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, featured at an Asian Games welcoming ceremony in Nagoya.
- Hideyoshi led Japan's invasions of Korea (1592-1598), a sensitive historical issue due to past Japanese colonial rule of Korea (1910-1945).
- KSOC called for measures to prevent recurrence, but had received no response from organisers as of Sept 18, highlighting ongoing Seoul-Tokyo tensions over historical grievances.
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SEOUL – South Korea’s Olympic committee said on Sept 18 it filed a complaint with Asian Games organisers in Nagoya for featuring a Japanese warlord at a welcoming ceremony.
The event on Sept 15 included a person dressed as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who led Japan’s invasions of Korea in 1592-1598, and the ceremony prompted a backlash in South Korea.
Historical issues are sensitive between South Korea and Japan, with Hideyoshi’s invasion a significant episode in Korean history and Korea later under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.
Three Japanese warlord characters were present for the arrival of a cruise ship in Nagoya that will serve as a floating hotel for thousands of Games athletes.
Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) president Ryu Seung-min sent a letter to the local organising committee and the Olympic Council of Asia “expressing regret and calling for measures to prevent a recurrence”, a KSOC spokeswoman told AFP.
“As of this morning we have not received a response,” she added.
AFP has contacted organisers for comment.
Seoul-Tokyo ties have often been strained over Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
During that period about 780,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced labour, according to Seoul data, a figure that does not include women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military. AFP