Japan Press Weekly

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2013 October 16 - 22 [PEACE]

Article 9 World Conference reaffirms value of the article

About 5,000 people on October 14 took part in the Article 9 World Conference 2013 in Osaka City, reaffirming the important role played by Japan’s pacifist Constitution.

Korean lawyer Kim Jin-Goo said that the conference focuses on the single issue of protecting Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution because the provision is a war-renouncing pledge made to the peoples of Asia and the rest of the world and greatly contributes to world peace.

Kim also expressed concern over a possible outbreak of a crisis of war in East Asia if Japan changes its constitutional interpretation of Article 9 or removes it to fuel an arm race.

Lee Kyung-Ju, professor at Inha University in South Korea, pointed out that the Japanese Constitution declares the “right to peace,” a principle that the international community is now moving to introduce worldwide.

French lawyer Roland Weyl of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) cited Article 9 as a model to follow for true progress in international relations.

Tunisian lawyer Bellhassen Ennouri said that his country is now drafting its own constitution, and that he will propose that the Tunisian government incorporate the pacifistic principle of the Japanese Constitution.