Masanori Kishiue (岸上政憲, 44), a city council member from Kanonji City, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan, who has frequently made hate speech against Korea, refused to resign despite the city council’s resolution recommending his resignation.
According to Kyodo News, the city council passed a resolution on the 7th to recommend Rep. Gisiue to resign. Afterwards, Rep. Gisiue held a press conference and said, “I will accept it deeply.” He virtually refused to resign, saying, “I want to reflect and fulfill my duties.”
Rep. Ki Si-ue previously referred to Korea as a “scammer” and victims of sexual exploitation (comfort women) by the Japanese military as “prostitutes” through his social networking service X (former Twitter) account.
At the time of posting the prostitute’s remarks, he received a stern warning from City Speaker Kazuyo Shinohara, saying, “It amounts to hate speech.”
Rep. Gisiue has regularly retweeted many hateful and discriminatory posts against Korea. In August, when Japan began discharging Fukushima’s radioactive contaminated water into the ocean, he wrote about Korea’s opposition, saying, “The scavenger is here again.”
Not only in Korea, but also in his own country, he has shared posts making discriminatory remarks against the Ainu, a minority group, and posts opposing the granting of suffrage to foreigners.
A post posted by Rep. Masanori Kishiue on the 6th, apologizing for his hate speech. The specific content of the remarks and the object of the apology were described in a vague manner. (Source: Masanori Kishiue x) 2023.12.06/Only a day before the city council passed the resolution to resign, Rep. Gisiue posted on his “I am truly sorry,” he wrote.
No apology could be found for those who were the targets of hate speech, and the post was peppered with comments to the effect of “resign.”
According to the Asahi Shimbun, Rep. Kishiue asked about the reason for posting hate speech at a press conference held on the afternoon of the 7th, saying, “I understand (hate speech) is not good, but since I was talking about the situation at the time, I wonder if it would be easy to understand.” “I wrote it because I thought there was something in common,” he defended.
Regarding the reason for not resigning from his position, he simply answered, “The recommendation to resign is not legally binding.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.