Korean Activists Held Up at Nagasaki Airport

Activists supporting victims of sex slavery by the Japanese imperial army during World War II were held for nearly four hours at a Japanese airport on Wednesday.

The group arrived in Japan on Wednesday to visit industrial sites where Korean forced laborers worked in slave-like conditions but which Tokyo wants to list as UNESCO heritage sites.

The activist group said 19 members, provincial parliamentarians and students arrived at Nagasaki airport at around 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday. However, Japanese authorities delayed their immigration checks until after 1 p.m.

Immigration officers persistently asked about the purpose of their visit and took issue with the past conduct of some members in Japan.

"We explained that we wanted to visit the industrial sites used for forced labor and pay tribute to victims, which resulted in four hours of delay," the group explained.

They will be in Nagasaki until Sunday.

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