Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Migrant groups join 'Boycott Japan' campaign
By Kang Seung-woo
South Gyeongsang Province-based migrant associations representing workers from 13 countries have joined hands in Korea's “Boycott Japan” campaign as anti-Abe administration sentiment is intensifying.
A Korean descendant in Mexico holds a sign to protest Japan's export restrictions on Korea during a rally in Mexico City, Wednesday. / Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
Leaders of the organizations held a press conference at the provincial office, Tuesday, to declare their participation in the movement, criticizing Japan's economic retaliation against Korean court rulings on wartime forced labor.
The 13 represented countries are Nepal, Mongolia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, China, Cambodia, Thailand, Pakistan and the Philippines, some of which were also invaded by Japan or served as battlefields for Tokyo's imperialism.
“In the past, Japan invaded China, the Philippines and Korea to claim many lives and trample on women's rights. If courts in our homeland make rulings to hold Japan responsible and Japan takes economic retaliation on our countries in return, we will not tolerate it. Likewise, we cannot tolerate that Japan is carrying out economic retaliation against Korea, which is our second home,” they said in a statement.
“To protest such an act, we have decided to join the boycott movement.”
According to the associations, they will translate the statement into their mother tongues and post them on social media platforms. In addition, they also plan to encourage migrant groups in other provinces, as well as families and friends in their homelands, to join the boycott campaign.
“We plan to let our families and friends back home know about the situation in Korea, urging them to join the boycott campaign there,” they said.
In South Gyeongsang Province, there are 14 migrant groups and only the Japanese organization did not participate.
According to the provincial office, there were more than 65,000 migrants, including 18,414 Vietnamese, 12,461 Chinese, 6,462 Indonesians, 6,451 Uzbeks and 4,573 Cambodians, as of the end of last year.
The Japanese government announced, July 1, it would restrict the export of three key materials that Korean companies need to make semiconductors and flat-panel displays. Last Friday, it also removed Korea from its list of preferred trading partners.
Since the July announcement, Korean consumers have launched the campaign to boycott Japan-made goods and services.