Japanese civic groups urge Japan to enforce court rulings on wartime forced labor

“I am here to demand Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to make an apology on his knees,” the voice of 91-year-old Yang Geum-deok, a victim of Japan’s wartime forced labor, echoed in front of the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in Tokyo at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. Some 50 people gathered in the venue, holding a banner that read, “Seventy-five years have passed without a single word of apology.” They urged the Japanese government to implement the ruling on the victims of forced labor during Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea both in Korean and Japanese.

This rally, which is held every Friday in front of the building of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the headquarters of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, war criminal enterprise, is called “Friday action.” This Friday marked the 500th of their weekly rally. Members of Japanese civic groups and lawyers have held the assembly since 2007 to support the victims of war-time forced labor. The rally, which began based on the idea of “Wednesday Assembly,” has been urging the Japanese government to make an apology and compensate to the victims of wartime forced labor.

Some 20 members of South Korean civic groups, such as the Gwangju advocacy group for the forced labor victims by Mitsubishi, also attended the rally on Friday in solidarity with members of Japanese civic groups to mark the 500th of their rally.


bsism@donga.com