Thousands of anti-Abe protesters rally in Seoul

Citizens and activists participate in a candlelight vigil in central Seoul, Saturday, to protest Japan's export curbs on Korea. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

Five thousand Koreans took to the streets in central Seoul, Saturday night, denouncing the Japanese government's trade restrictions imposed on Korea. The massive rally, during which citizens and activists from 596 civic groups held up banners that read, “No Abe!” and “Apologize for forced labor,” was the second weekend candlelit protest. Last week's event drew 1,000.

“We are not here to hate Japanese people. We are here to talk about justice,” Jeon Woo-yong, a historian, said. “What (Shinzo) Abe is doing is militarism and it is our responsibility to fight for world peace.”

The protest is a result of worsening relations between Korea and Japan due to the Abe administration's decision to tighten export controls on three key materials that Korean companies need to make semiconductors and panels for screens ― a move seen as economic retaliation against the Korean Supreme Court's rulings last year ordering Japanese companies to compensate surviving South Koreans who were forced to work for them without pay during WWII.

In response, Koreans are up in arms about the decision, launching a massive campaign to boycott Japanese products and stop travel to the neighboring country.

Another participant called the boycott of Japanese products “an objection to Abe's dream of reviving militarism without a proper reflection on the atrocities Japan committed.”

The protesters initially planned to march toward the Japanese embassy in Seoul, but this request was denied by police.

According to the organizers, such a rally will be held on the following two weekends along with the Aug. 15 Liberation Day, the celebration of Korea's freedom from Japanese colonial rule in 1945.