Asian Games: Japan wartime flag dispute at Asiad

INCHEON, South Korea (AFP) - Badges handed out by Japanese competitors at the Asian Games in South Korea revived antagonism Friday over their country's harsh colonial rule of its neighbor.

The organizing committee of the event in Incheon sent a protest letter to the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) over the badges which appear to show Japan's wartime rising sun flag.  

The flag is seen by many Koreans as a symbol of Japanese cruelty during the occupation up to 1945. The flag was changed after World War II.

Japanese field hockey players training at a high school in Incheon, just west of Seoul, handed out the badges as souvenirs to about 20 schoolgirls.

The triangle-shaped badges bear the initials of the Japan Hockey Association and its controversial logo.

Angry teachers at the school reported the case to the Asian Games organizing committee demanding action, a school official said.

Many South Koreans consider the wartime symbol an offensive reminder of Japan's 35-year occupation of the Korean Peninsula.

The organizing committee, IAGOC, said it had sent a protest letter through the Olympic Committee of Asia to the JOC.

"Our committee has asked the JOC to take action and prevent the recurrence of such an incident," an IAGOC official told AFP.

"We are seeking a quiet solution because only a few Japanese athletes were involved," the official added however.

The JOC insisted the badge has no connection to Japan's militarist past.

"The badge represents the sun's rays shining – a positive image," JOC international relations director Yasuhiro Nakamori said.

"It has no connection to any Japanese nationalistic emblem or Japan's militaristic past. The JHA is affiliated to the Japan Sports Association and they have used the emblem for more than 100 years," he said.

Last year, some Japanese football fans came under fire in South Korea after they waved the rising sun flag while cheering their national team during the East Asian Cup in Seoul.

Relations between Tokyo and Seoul are at a low ebb over disputes related to Japan's colonial rule.

South Korea feels Japan has not done enough to express remorse for colonial abuses or to compensate victims.