Japan's Emperor Akihito bowed deeply atop a cliff where his countrymen plunged to their deaths to avoid capture by US troops and -- for the first time -- paid his respects yesterday to the Koreans who died while fighting for the Japanese in World War II.
On the first trip by a Japanese monarch to a World War II battlesite overseas, Akihito and Empress Michiko visited several memorials on this tiny Pacific island honoring Japanese, Americans, local islanders, and for the first time, Koreans forced to serve in the name of his father, the late Emperor Hirohito.
The two-day royal visit comes amid growing anger in China and the Koreas over what many there see as Japan's failure to make amends for its brutal past.
PHOTO: AFP
Akihito's visit to the Korean war dead memorial could be seen as an attempt to ease those tensions, coming as it did after Koreans living in Saipan threatened to stage protests during his trip. The imperial couple was not initially scheduled to stop at the memorial, which some Koreans had considered a snub.
A senior palace official said the memorial visit had been approved days before the emperor left Japan but was kept secret from the media until the last minute because of concerns it might be "compromised."
Korea was made a Japanese colony in 1910, and 1,000 or so Koreans were brought to this island before the war as laborers.
Families of those South Koreans killed in the war welcomed Akihito's visit to the memorial, but said it should be backed up by serious reflection from officials in the Japanese government.
"Because he is a symbolic figure, if he apologized with a sincere heart, I think we can accept it," Kim Jay-gun, vice president of the Association for the Pacific War Victims, said of Akihito. "Following the emperor's action, the prime minister and other officials should also repent."
Not all Koreans on Saipan felt Akihito's decision to go to the memorial was enough, however.
"Japan has never really apologized," said Ryan Kim, a local tour guide. "There is more for Japan's emperor to do than go on tours like this."
The fall of Saipan was a turning point in the war in the Pacific. Its fall allowed US B-29 bombers to pound Japan's cities, and the neighboring island of Tinian was used as the launch point for the planes carrying the atomic weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945.
As many as 55,000 Japanese troops and civilians died in the three-week "Operation Forager," which began on June 15, 1944.
Early yesterday, Akihito offered prayers at "Banzai Cliff," which owes its name to the shouts of banzai -- a cheer wishing long life to the emperor -- by Japanese who plunged to their deaths rather than face capture by US troops.
Before leaving yesterday evening, the royal couple also visited monuments to more than 5,000 Americans, about half of them Marines, and 1,000 or so islanders who were killed on Saipan or nearby islands.
Akihito has been to China and has expressed remorse for the past during visits to Japan by South Korean leaders.
But he has never made a trip to offer condolences at a battlefield overseas.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS