Japan to skip naval event after rival Koreas' united opposition

In this Feb. 22, 2013, file photo, a Japanese protester holds the rising sun flag and Japanese flag during a rally against South Korea in Tokyo.

By Jung Min-ho

Japan will skip an international naval event in South Korea next week after South and North Korea raised a united voice against Japan's plan to fly the Rising Sun flag.

According to the South Korean Navy Saturday, Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force told the host of its decision not to send a warship to the International Fleet Review, which is scheduled to open at a military port on Jeju Island.

The decision came after two Koreas ― in one voice ― expressed opposition to Japan's plan to fly what they see as a symbol of Japan's wartime atrocities.

Last week, the South Korean Navy asked the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force not to fly the flag during the five-day event. Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon also said publicly that Japan needed to consider how the flags would affect Koreans.

North Korea was more straightforward.

“The Rising Sun flag is a war-crime flag that the 20th-century Japanese imperialists used when executing their barbaric invasions into our nation and other countries,” said Uriminzokkiri, the North's state-controlled website. “Entering with the flag is an unbearable insult and ridicule to our people.”

South and North Korea have a long history of hostility to each other, but issues of common interest often unite them.

During the PyeongChang Winter Olympics early this year, North Korean cheerleaders waved unification flags showing South Korea's eastern islets as they cheered for the unified Korean teams.

After Japan's strong complaint about the flag, South Korea decided not to use it during the Olympics. But North Korea remained defiant, saying “legally and historically it is clear that Dokdo is our people's territory.”