The tensions between South Korea and Japan on the flag of the Rising Sun

The flag of the Rising sun was the official symbol of the Japanese Empire both before and during the Second World War (WWII). With this symbol Imperial Japan applied the expansive policy of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere along the shores of East Asia and the Far East. Today this flag is the official symbol of the Japanese Naval Self-Defense Force from the founding of the 1954.

In the last decade, South Korea and China, as historical victims of the then Imperial Japan’s expansion policy in the WWII, are constantly raising serious objections to the use of this symbol on the stadiums of Japan and especially when Japan is hosting international games.

by Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis

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The history of tensions

The tension in relations between the two countries begins with the dispute over the Liancourt Rocks which are small islands in the Sea of Japan and are called «Dokdo» in Korean and «Takeshima» in Japanese. These claims came to the surface after the end of the Cold War (1992).

In addition, this tension is found ground in commercial matters due to the strict controls imposed by Japan on exports of critical materials for the South Korean industries. In addition, the Japanese Naval Self-Defense Force (JNSDF)  announced that it will not send an invitation to the South Korean Navy to participate in the multinational Naval exercise-inspection to be hosted in Japan in October as a reaction on the subject that arose with the flag of the Rising sun last year for the same exercise-inspection that took place in South Korea.

The tensions continue in the field of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020

So, given the organization of the Olympic Games during the summer of 2020 in Tokyo, the confrontation between South Korea and Japan about the use of the flag of Rising sun on the stadiums of Japan has taken on a large scale. Japan replied, on these objections, that it did not intend to prohibit the use of this flag because it does not consider the symbol of the Rising sun a political declaration.

As a rebuttal, South Korea last week denounced by letter both to the International Olympic Committee (ILO) and to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) requesting both Committees to prohibit the use of the specific flag by the fans of Japan during the Olympic and Paralympic Games respectively and everything else that depicts upon them this flag.

In fact, in the effort of South Korea to succeed in its complaint, it matched the flag of the Rising sun with the Nazi flag which has the symbol of Nazi swastika, describing it as a symbol of extreme right-wing organizations. This position has been embraced by FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) and has banned for the specific reasons the flag of the Rising sun.

On the other hand, Japan does not accept the objections of South Korea and insists on the widespread use of this flag in Japan.

Certainly, both the objections and the historical sensitivities of South Korea and China are of great importance to their peoples who have historically suffered from the implementation of the then Imperial Japan policy. But South Korea is not right that this flag is identical to the flag bearing the symbol of the Nazi swastika.

The flag with the symbol of the Nazi swastika has been banned and is not used by anyone, nor by the German state itself, which the specific flag is part of its history, except by outlawed right-wing and racist organizations and parties.

However, when the flag of the Rising sun is the official symbol of the Japanese Naval Self-Defense Forces since 1954, it is not possible to prohibit its use by anyone as it belongs to the official symbols of the current Japanese State. It was in 1954 where both South Korea and China would have to put these issues before the flag of the Rising sun could be adopted as part of the official symbols of the Japanese state.

However, as the situation may be, both South Korea and China are always in front of them the brilliant field of sports as much of the Olympic Games as the Paralympic Games respectively of 2020 in Tokyo, where through the successes of their athletes in these Games, they can prove that no symbol scares them or affects them from wherever this symbol comes from.

The Olympic Games, as well as the Paralympic Games, are the symbol of the togetherness of the countries and their peoples and they do not fit during their action any political tensions and confrontation respectively.