North Korea has repeatedly criticized Japan’s Gunma Prefecture for forcibly dismantling the ‘Korean Workers Memorial Monument’, saying, “This is no different from thugs who know neither morality nor humanity.”
On the 7th, the Labor Party’s official newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, reported that the ‘Korean Association of Families of Victims of Forced Deportation’ issued a statement with this content.
Regarding the removal of the memorial monument, the association said in a statement, “It cannot be anything other than an intolerable insult and mockery to our people and an act that tramples on justice and humanity,” adding, “With boiling anger, the outrageous behavior of the Gunma Prefecture authorities is an inhumane act.” “We harshly condemn this as the height of immorality,” he said.
The association continued, “The forced removal of the memorial monument erases the truth of the crimes against humanity committed by Japan in the last century and its citizens’ sense of guilt about them, avoids its obligation to settle the past with us, and further pursues its ambition to become a military power at the stake of our republic.” “It is part of an unscrupulous plan to make it happen,” he claimed.
He also said, “Removing even a single monument does not cover Japan’s criminal history, much less changes its status as a war criminal,” and added, “The forced removal of the memorial is a grave sin that cannot be forgiven by the world of slaughtering the unjust victims of Japan’s crimes of forced conscription ever again.” “And that sin cannot be washed away by anything,” he emphasized.
At the same time, he called for the restoration of the memorial, saying, “The Gunma Prefecture authorities must now regain reason and discernment, offer a sincere apology to the victims of forcible deportation, their bereaved families, and all parties involved, and take the initiative to restore the memorial to its original state.”
Previously, Japan’s Gunma Prefecture refused to renew the permit for the installation of a memorial monument in 2014 on the grounds that a participant in the 2012 memorial event made remarks such as “The Japanese government is not sincere in investigating the truth about the forced deportation.” This is because they broke their promise to ‘not hold political events’ when the memorial was erected.
Afterwards, in 2022, Japan’s Supreme Court judged that Gunma Prefecture’s disposition was appropriate, and the memorial monument was removed on the 31st of last month. Accordingly, North Korea has been criticizing the forcible removal of the memorial every day since the previous day, calling it an “absolutely unacceptable inhumane act of violence.”
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.