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The president of the Korean Association of Saipan said Monday he felt ¡°horribly frustrated¡± that Japanese Emperor Akihito is to pay tribute to Japanese who died on the island in World War II. Kim Seung-baek made the remark the day the Imperial couple arrived in the U.S. territory.
Kim is angry that the emperor is making his first overseas mourning visit in what he says is a bid to ¡°commemorate militarism¡± in a place once occupied by Japan. The island country ruled Saipan for about 30 years from 1914 until it was taken over by the U.S.
For the Japanese, certain sites on the island will forever be associated with World War II, especially Banzai Cliff, where Japanese troops chose to jump to their deaths rather than surrender to the Americans. The emperor is scheduled to visit the cliff, lay flowers at the Monument of the War Dead in the Mid-Pacific, which pays tribute to Japanese soldiers who fell in the bitter battle for the island, and the American Memorial Park honoring U.S. soldiers who died taking the island.
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Japan¡¯s Emperor Akihito shakes hands with a girl who came to great him after Empress Michiko, dressed in white, accepted a bouquet at Saipan International Airport on Monday. The couple is visiting the island to commemorate Japanese soldiers who died there at the end of World War II.
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Kim said the visit brought home once again ¡°the reality of our homeland, which for close to 60 years since the end of the war has not properly restored the remains or records of our ancestors who unjustly perished abroad."
Kim has been busy since the emperor¡¯s visit was announced, trying to figure out ways to remember the Koreans who were sacrificed on the island. He has asked that the imperial couple visit the Korean Peace Memorial but found the Japanese consulate on the island unresponsive. The association has hung a banner in downtown Saipan calling for the emperor to apologize to Koreans sacrificed in the Pacific and conduct a memorial service for them, but had to take it down after pressure from high-ranking Saipan officials who were concerned about the island's relationship with Japan.
Koreans on the island also report being given black looks by other residents when rumors circulated that they were planning a protest. Saipan is highly dependent on the Japanese tourist trade. On Monday, Kim had to content himself with reading a statement that welcomed the Japanese imperial couple to the island. He went no further than to express hope that the emperor will use the visit not only to mourn the deaths of Japanese but those of all races who died there.
"I'm despondent when I think I'm the citizen of a country that for 60 years refused to build a memorial hall and left it to private citizens to build a single commemorative pagoda.¡± He added there had been no attempt from Seoul to retrieve records of the Korean victims or find their remains.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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