Japanese activist indicted over Dokdo stakes

A Japanese right-wing activist will face trial in South Korea for setting up provocative wooden stakes in Seoul and Tokyo last year to lay claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, prosecutors said Sunday.

Nobuyuki Suzuki, a member of an ultra-right Japanese party, was sued by a group of former South Korean sex slaves for defamation in connection with a controversial wooden post he tied to a symbolic statue of a sex slave in front of the Japanese embassy in downtown Seoul in June.

The wooden post had a sign that read, "Dokdo is Japanese territory."

Japan has repeatedly renewed its claim to Dokdo in the East Sea, a thorn between Seoul and Tokyo, while rejecting Seoul's demand for talks on compensating the victims forced into sexual slavery for Japan's World War II soldiers.

Suzuki, 48, is also facing another defamation suit filed by the Patriot Yun Bong Gil Memorial Association for similar vandalism of a monument commemorating Yun, a Korean independence fighter, located in Kanazawa of Ishikawa Prefecture in September. 

He then took photos of the scene and posted them on his blog along with derogatory comments about the deceased heroic figure, calling him a terrorist, according to the association. Yun was executed in Japan after attempting to assassinate Japanese leaders during its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

"We've decided to indict him on charges of defaming the former sex slaves and Yun. Though Suzuki snubbed the summons for questioning, solid evidence about his alleged crimes enabled us to indict him without a hitch," said a prosecutor at Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office.

If Suzuki refuses to appear for the trials, the South Korean judicial authorities can hold them with the suspect in absentia. In case he receives a prison sentence, Seoul will request his extradition in accordance with the relevant treaty between the two countries, according to the prosecutor. (Yonhap News)

<관련 한글기사>

위안부 동상 ’말뚝 테러’ 일본인, 결국

검찰이 위안부  소녀상에 ‘말뚝테러’를 가한 극우파 일본인을 위안부에 대한 명예훼손 혐의로 재판에 넘겼다. 

서울중앙지검 외사부(이성희 부장검사)는 주한 일본대사관 앞에 설치된 위안부 소녀상에 말뚝을 묶고 위안부 비하 발언을  인터넷에 올린 혐의(명예훼손 등)로 일본 극우 활동가 스즈키 노부유키(47)를 불구속 기소했다고 17일 밝혔다.

검찰에 따르면 스즈키는 지난해 6월서울 중로구 중학동 주한 일본대사관 앞에 있는 위안부 소녀상에 ‘다케시마는 일본 영토’라는 글씨가 적힌 말뚝을 묶고, 
위안부 피해자들이 자발적으로 일본군을 따라갔다는 등의 허위사실을 퍼뜨린 혐의를 받고 있다.

그는 또 지난해 9월 일본 가나자와시 윤봉길 의사 순국기념비 앞에 말뚝을 세우고 '윤봉길은 조선인 테러리스트'라는 내용의 글을 자신의 블로그에 게재해 윤 의사 유족에게 고소를 당한 바 있다. 

서울중앙지검은 지난해 9월 스즈키의 일본 주소로 출석을 요구하는 소환장을 보냈으나 스즈키는 이에 응하지 않았다. 현재 일본에 머물고 있는 피고인은  유죄로 재판될 경우 범죄인 인도절차까지 이어질 가능성이 있다. (코리아헤럴드)