A group of people from China, South Korea and Japan held a
candlelight demonstration on Friday evening in Tokyo, calling on
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to refrain from paying
visit to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine before stepping down next
month.
The demonstration, called "Let's light a candle of peace," was
participated by representatives from China's Taiwan region, 8 South
Korean lawmakers and more than 100 Japanese civil group
members.
Led by the South Korean lawmakers with a big banner in their
hands, the demonstration started at?8:00 PM?from Hibiya
Park, and marched to Chiyoda Ku's Kasumigaseki district, where most
of Japanese central government ministries are located.
The demonstrators chanted slogans criticizing Koizumi's shrine
visit and demanding the "return of spirits from Yasukuni of the
Taiwan aboriginals and the South Korean bereaved" who have been
enshrined there.
The organizing committee of the protest held a meeting in the
afternoon.
South Korean lawmaker Kim Hee Sun said Koizumi's visits to the
Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A war criminals of World War
II, carried Japan's attempt to legitimize its colonial rule on the
Korean Peninsular, and the purpose of the candlelight demonstration
is to send a strong appeal against the shrine visit by Japanese
politicians and to call on permanent peace in Asia.
Japan should reflect on its past aggression so that it will be
able to truly reconcile with all victims and contribute to
deep-rooted peace, Kim said.
Hundreds of thousands of aboriginals in Taiwan have suffered
from Japanese militarism, said Chen Mingzhong, a representative
from Taiwan, who added that the forced enshrinement of the
aboriginals in Taiwan in the Yasukuni, which honors Japanese war
dead, is a blasphemy of their dignity, and people in Taiwan
strongly demand the return of the spirits of their ancestors.
The representatives of the candlelight protest handed in a
petition to the Cabinet Office in the afternoon, calling for the
stop of shrine visit by Japanese leaders.
Several Japanese civil groups gathered in front of the prime
minister's official residence, urging the Japanese government to
set up a correct view of history and to commit itself to building a
peaceful Asia.
The candlelight demonstration will last through Monday. Fifty
aboriginals from Taiwan and 170 South Korean people will join the
protest from Saturday.?
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2006)