S. Korea Urges Japan to Consider Impact of Wartime Flag

October 1, 2018

Seoul- South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon on Monday called on Japan to take account of the impact of its plan to show, in an international fleet review off South Korea's Jeju Island this month, the rising sun flag used by the now-defunct Imperial Japanese military.

At a parliamentary meeting, Lee said Japan needs to think more carefully about how the flag of the rising sun with sun rays would affect the feelings of the South Korean people, who remember the pain of Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, including the World War II period.

The Japanese Self-Defense Forces apparently intends to show the national flags of Japan and South Korea on the bows of its vessels participating in the event, to be held on Oct. 10-14, and the rising sun flag in question on their sterns, but South Korean nationals view the plan as problematic, he said.

If SDF ships take part in the fleet review with the flag associated with the war, South Korea will consider various options, he added.

The South Korean navy has asked countries planning to join the event, including Japan, to hoist their own national flags and the South Korean flag.

In response, Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said that SDF vessels are "legally obliged to show" the rising sun flag.

South Korea will host the international fleet review for the first time in 10 years, with some 50 vessels, including foreign warships, poised to take part. Jiji Press