JCP criticizes Tokyo governor for glossing over Japan's colonial rule over Korea

In the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Budget Committee special meeting on March 12, Japanese Communist Party representative Yoshida Nobuo criticized Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro for his repeated remarks trying to justify Japan's colonial rule over Korea.

Last October, Governor Ishihara in a public assembly in Tokyo said that Koreans were responsible for Japan's annexation of Korea, and at a news conference said that Japan's colonial rule was humanitarian compared with that of France over Indo-china and America over the Philippines.

Last February, Ishihara wrote a reply to Yoshida's question in writing, stating: "The Koreans chose Japan's rule. Japan did not invaded Korea by force."

In the March 12 committee meeting, JCP representative Yoshida gave facts concerning the 1895 assassination of the Korean queen Min by the Japanese minister Yoshida Goro and the subsequent Japanese threats and use of force to get Korea annexed to Japan.

Ishihara tried to justify his statements, saying that the international politics at the time was governed by the law of the jungle, and the annexation of Korea to Japan was a consequence of the struggle over survival.

Yoshida refuted him by saying that the people of Korea are in fact protesting against the governor's statement that Japan's colonial rule was humanitarian, and urged him to talk with them in person. But the governor rejected the proposal and repeated his argument that Japan's colonial rule was concerned about improving the social infrastructure in Korea. (end)