Video footage on the Internet shows an ultra-right Japanese people trampling on the “Taegeukgi,” the national flag of South Korea, which triggered an outpouring of outrage from Koreans. Moreover, the “gwae” in each corner on the flag was replaced with a cockroach-shaped design.
The “ugly” Japanese protest came after Japan renewed its claim to South Korea’s Dokdo islets in the East Sea. Tokyo also rejected Seoul’s demand for an apology and talks on compensating “comfort women” who were coerced into sexual servitude at front-line Japanese military brothels during Japan’s colonial rule of Korea between 1910 and 1945.
The video was taken during a rally in Osaka, which was organized by rightist Japanese groups in July, the Hankook Ilbo, a sister paper of The Korea Times, reported Wednesday.
The Japanese protesters called for the severance of formal relations between Seoul and Tokyo, according to the report.
During the rally, protesters trampled on the Korean flag one by one, it said. A protester called the yin-yang taegeuk mark in the center of the flag a “Pepsi Cola mark.”