ⓒEPA Freelance reporter Koichi Yasuda, who investigated and reported on the anti-Korea net right-wing group Re-Special Meeting, pointed out various issues in Japanese society surrounding the death of former Prime Minister Abe. His books, including and , have been translated and introduced in Korea. Reprint of his manuscript published in Shukan Kinyobi No. 1385, a Japanese independent newspaper that has exchanged articles with . When he heard the news that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had been shot and died, he felt something pounding in his heart. One was shock and the other was anger at the perpetrator. And there was also anxiety about the landscape that was expected to develop in the future. So my concerns were met. The Internet was full of ugly rumors full of discrimination and prejudice. “The culprit is a Korean” “Again, the crime of Zainichi (Korean Zainichi)”. Hate speech (hate speech) posted on the Internet without any basis created a strong fear in the Korean community in Japan. “I am only praying that the crime has nothing to do with Zainichi (Korean).” Immediately after the attack, multiple Koreans residing in Japan sent me a message to this effect. He was concerned about the runaway of hatred, like a flame spreads quickly when a dry grass is lit on fire. It would be natural. This is because there remains a sense of fear that has been handed down from the time of grandparents to the massacre immediately after the Great Kanto Earthquake. Hate speech is rampant in Japanese society. In an era where people set fire to the area where Koreans living in Japan (Utoro district, Kyoto) live because they hate Koreans, the fear is even more amplified. It is also understandable that the Korean Consulate General in Fukuoka appealed to caution on its official Twitter account to warn Koreans living in Japan to beware of hate crimes. Immediately after the incident, I was asked by a newspaper to “make an evaluation (comment) on the shooting incident,” and I criticized the terrorist act, citing the arson incident of the Utoro district as an example, and said, “Incitement to racism is unacceptable. can’t,” he said. It was as expected that criticism, slander, slander, and slander about my evaluation were posted on the Internet. At the same time, I felt the ‘atmosphere’ of society anew. Far-right figures hold the Rising Sun Flag at Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, 2019, the day of Japan’s defeat and Korean Liberation Day. ⓒAP Photo It is never contradictory to express mourning for the death of former Prime Minister Abe, who was deprived of ‘freedom of expression’ by the death of a powerful person, and to strongly condemn the criminal act of shooting, while at the same time discussing his merits calmly. So I assert In the past, the Abe administration was the biggest ‘contributor’ to fostering the discrimination, prejudice, and hate speech that covered this country. The spread of exclusivity in Japanese society coincides with the actions of the second Abe administration in 2012. Taking a hardline stance toward North Korea as a point of attack, the first thing Abe did when he regained his position as prime minister was to exclude Chosun schools from free high schools. It was from 2013 the following year that people who supported and welcomed it took to the streets and intensified the hate demonstration. Protests calling for the killing of Koreans were repeated over the weekend. In Korea-Japan relations, the Abe administration also created serious rifts between the two countries. In 2015, an agreement was reached between Japan and South Korea that included a “final and irreversible resolution” of the “comfort women” issue, but former Prime Minister Abe refused to apologize directly to the “comfort women” parties. In addition, with regard to the issue of conscripts, the relationship between the two countries has deteriorated to the extent that they are said to be ‘worst after the war’ by continuing to take a stance of “already resolved”, and the rift is still not being bridged. In other words, former Prime Minister Abe continued to drop ‘fuel of hatred’ on Japanese society. It’s not just a hate-promoting issue. Responsible for explaining various allegations, such as the ‘School Scandal’, which gave preferential treatment to Moritomo and Kake Academy during his tenure, and the ‘Sakura Scandal’, which caused controversy over the privatization of power by inviting his local supporters to a government-sponsored event There was, but he didn’t. He shouted from the street, “I can’t lose to these people,” at those who criticized it. It is very regrettable that the opportunity for reflection, regret, apology and explanation was lost forever through his death. In remembrance of former Prime Minister Abe, news anchors wore black clothes and turned off the lights of Tokyo Tower. Even speaking of criticism or public guilt against Abe, he will be attacked for not being careful. The major media reported this incident as a ‘crisis of democracy’. Can you really say that? Freedom of expression is taken away by the death of a powerful person, and silence is forced. Could it be called a crisis? To reiterate, this shooting of former Prime Minister Abe is an unacceptable and heinous crime. The act of taking a life is absolutely unacceptable. However, the imprint of discrimination that former Prime Minister Abe left on society does not disappear with his death. There are certain words that must not be taken away in the storm of discrimination that is still raging. Translation / Seong-hee Moon, Editor-in-Chief of
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