Over 34,000 sign petition to ban Rising Sun flag from Tokyo Olympics
Protesters burn images of the Rising Sun flag featuring a portrait of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with the Chinese characters "Shameful," during a protest on the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, in Hong Kong, Dec. 13, 2017. Reuters
By Jung Min-ho
More than 34,000 people have signed a petition to ban Japan's Rising Sun flag ― a symbol of the country's wartime aggression ― from display at 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games venues.
As of Thursday, 34,400 people have signed a
on Change.org urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to warn the organizing committee of the Tokyo Games (July 24-Aug. 9) after it decided to allow displays of the flag.
The petitioner likens the flag to the Nazis' hakenkreuz (swastika) flag, a symbol of Hitler's era, saying they are “the same war crime flags.”
“What if Germany were to host the Olympics in 2020 and announced to the international community that it would allow hakenkreuz, which was used by the Nazis in the 1936 Games?” the petitioner wrote.
“What would the citizens of the European countries affected by Nazi Germany's massacre and biological experimentations feel? It is the same shock and anger of what Koreans felt when the Japanese government announced the use of the Rising Sun flag at the 2020 Tokyo Games.”
Earlier this month, the IOC told The Korea Times that “sports stadiums should be free of any political demonstration.” However, it did not directly answer whether it would prohibit all Rising Sun flags and just said: “If such cases arise, we look at them on a case-by-case basis.”
Since its defeat in WWII, Germany has strictly banned the use of any patterns or designs that invoke the swastika flag.
Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, a set of rules and guidelines for the organization of the Olympic Games, states: “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”