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| A sign reads "No Selling, No Buying, Boycott Japan" at a Hanaro Mart in Seoul on July 12. Yonhap |
By Kim Hyun-bin
Anti-Japan sentiment has been spreading rapidly among Koreans after Tokyo's economic retaliation against Korea that placed a curb on high-tech material exports to Seoul, which has led tens of thousands of Koreans to boycott Japanese products and cancel their travels to Japan.
Apart from boycotting Japanese products, there are individuals and groups that have started individual campaigns to spread global awareness of Japan's past atrocities.
The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) uploaded a seven-minute video, including English subtitles, with details why they believe the Japanese Rising Sun flag should be banned, highlighting its similarities to the Nazi flag.
"A few days after we uploaded the video over 5,000 Japanese people strongly complained about it," said Park Gi-tae, chairman of VANK. "We want the whole world to know of their atrocities so we put subtitles in English. We will continue to post these videos of Japan's wrongdoings until the world population of over 7 billion are aware of their history."
Some YouTubers are also posting videos about Japan's forced labor of Koreans that occurred during Japan's colonial rule of Korea from 1910 to 1945.
A video uploaded by Kang Family TV has even included Japanese subtitles in the hopes of reaching Japanese people.
There is even a group "Global History Diplomacy Academy" that recruits "history diplomacy ambassadors" to help reveal Japan's economic retaliation against Korea. The 300 "ambassadors" are in charge of sending letters to five foreign friends abroad in which they describe the current retaliatory measures taken by Japan.
Experts say the moves done by individuals are different from past protests and boycott activities against Japan.
"The largest boycott of Japan as of late was seen in 2005, after the Japanese government officially appointed Korea's Dokdo islets as its own Takeshima islets. At the time, civic groups hit the streets, but it did not last long. This time, individuals are starting their own protests online and what makes it significant is that it is becoming larger and larger each day," Seo Kyoung-duk, professor of General Education at Sungshin Women's University, told The Korea Times.
"I believe people's anger has grown against Japan over the years, as Japan continues to give the cold shoulder regarding issues such as Dokdo, comfort women and forced labor and the people want to show their stance. Koreans are the second-largest source of tourists for Japan and many are not willing to visit Japan due to the country's economic retaliatory measures, which will inevitably impact their local economy."
During the weekend, civic groups will stage a large-scale candlelit rally in front of the former Japanese embassy in Seoul.
A few former wartime sex slaves and related entities will also take part in the rallies in an effort to challenge what they call Japan's distortions of history.
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