ID :
196346
Thu, 07/21/2011 - 16:28
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/196346
The shortlink copeid
Court rejects suit against enshrinement of Koreans at Yasukuni+
TOKYO, July 21 Kyodo -
The Tokyo District Court turned down Thursday a suit filed by a group of South Koreans who called for removing their deceased relatives from a list of those enshrined collectively at the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
The plaintiffs are nine relatives of now-deceased servicemen and civilian employees of the Imperial Japanese forces and a former civilian employee who is alive but enshrined at the Shinto shrine as a ''spirit of war dead.'' They served for the military under Japan's colonial rule during the Pacific War.
They argued the enshrinement was carried out as the Japanese government provided the information on war dead to the Shinto shrine without their approval and that it violates their personal right as Koreans.
Presiding Judge Yuzuru Takahashi determined, however, the state's information service to Yasukuni is not against the principle of separation of politics and religion under the Constitution, saying, ''It cannot say that the state has given preferential treatment particularly to Yasukuni.''
The lawsuit was the first over the enshrinement of Koreans and the first one involving an enshrined survivor, according to lawyers representing the plaintiffs.
The 10 Koreans, the survivor and those who died in battles in the Pacific theater in World War II, were enshrined in April and October of 1959, based on information provided by the then Ministry of Health and Welfare, the predecessor to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, according to the ruling.
Two similar suits over the Yasukuni enshrinement have been filed, of which the Osaka High Court ruled in December the government's information provision goes against the constitutional principle, but turned down the plaintiffs' request to remove their relatives from the enshrinement list.
The Naha District Court also brushed aside another suit last October.
Yasukuni Shrine honors Japanese World War II war criminals as well as the war dead, and former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits there soured Japan's relationship with other Asian countries, including China.
==Kyodo
The Tokyo District Court turned down Thursday a suit filed by a group of South Koreans who called for removing their deceased relatives from a list of those enshrined collectively at the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
The plaintiffs are nine relatives of now-deceased servicemen and civilian employees of the Imperial Japanese forces and a former civilian employee who is alive but enshrined at the Shinto shrine as a ''spirit of war dead.'' They served for the military under Japan's colonial rule during the Pacific War.
They argued the enshrinement was carried out as the Japanese government provided the information on war dead to the Shinto shrine without their approval and that it violates their personal right as Koreans.
Presiding Judge Yuzuru Takahashi determined, however, the state's information service to Yasukuni is not against the principle of separation of politics and religion under the Constitution, saying, ''It cannot say that the state has given preferential treatment particularly to Yasukuni.''
The lawsuit was the first over the enshrinement of Koreans and the first one involving an enshrined survivor, according to lawyers representing the plaintiffs.
The 10 Koreans, the survivor and those who died in battles in the Pacific theater in World War II, were enshrined in April and October of 1959, based on information provided by the then Ministry of Health and Welfare, the predecessor to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, according to the ruling.
Two similar suits over the Yasukuni enshrinement have been filed, of which the Osaka High Court ruled in December the government's information provision goes against the constitutional principle, but turned down the plaintiffs' request to remove their relatives from the enshrinement list.
The Naha District Court also brushed aside another suit last October.
Yasukuni Shrine honors Japanese World War II war criminals as well as the war dead, and former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits there soured Japan's relationship with other Asian countries, including China.
==Kyodo
