Pro-North Korean groups demand apology from Osaka governor

“Japan isn’t North Korea, after all. If I got my way in everything all the time, I’d become a dictator.”

Those are the words of Osaka governor Toru Hashimoto, whose plans move the prefecture offices to a newer building were recently shot down by the Osaka Prefectural Assembly. Seems like a pretty harmless remark, right?

Apparently not. Blogger Ampontan reports that a group of mothers who send their children to North Korean schools in Japan has demanded that the governor apologize:

Their demand says that his statement referring to North Korea in regard to a purely local issue while “North Korea bashing” is occurring due to that country’s upcoming launch of a missile is inappropriate. “We are concerned that the statement could encourage unjustified harassment of the children at the schools,” the mothers said.

The insolence of the North Koreans and their local lackeys is by no means a new phenomenon, but the moral repugnance of this particular complaint is breathtaking. Those of North Korean ancestry in Japan who are allowed to operate schools for the primary purpose of indoctrinating students in the propaganda of an enemy state should be grateful that they have the opportunity to exist at all, much less complain about democratically elected leaders in public. That opportunity certainly wouldn’t be available to them in Pyeongyang, and they know it.

Should Hashimoto apologize?

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18 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - April 3, 2009 at 7:30 am

Categories: Politics Tags:

Rated-R

Someone oughtta F those muthaz!
Joe

Yeah because primary school kids love to read up on politician quotes and tease people with them. also not like anything he said wasn’t true
Ikunochan

He should not be expected to apologize, and it seems that it would be really out of character for him to do so over a comment like that. Given that Osaka has a pretty large, politically active Korean population, I’m guessing he may even have expected the criticism.

I’ll be interested to see whether or not he does apologize!
R.

They act like parasites. That end up involving S. Koreans as well.
Level3

An apology would piss off far more people I expect.
Espcially for syaing something that is true.
Hope he make a comeback to these insane NK types,
“I SAID this is NOT North Korea, I’m not a dictator, and neither are you.
P.S. Kim Jong Il is batshit insane and your country is a shithole.
P.P.S. Why the fuck don’t you move back to NK instead of living comfortably in Japan?”

I think he should be prime-minister.

Ikunochan

Excellent! I can actually imagine him saying all of that! I hope he does it, too!

Eddie

It was an unnecessary comment.
http://www.chirimotsumoreba.net Jordan

He has the balls to say what everyone is thinking while recognizing that as a politician he can’t have everything he wants. What’s wrong with this? If they don’t like freedom of speech in Japan I seriously suggest they get on the slow boat back to North Korea. I usually shy away from using such responses to these kind of things, but they clearly would enjoy their life there more than they do here. What with all the free speech and terrible things that go on like that here.
Garamon

I think his comment was funny and truthful and, no, he shouldn’t apologize.
helical

It would be gratifying to see these people complaining be rounded up and shipped off to their beloved motherland, but then that would be so … North Korean.

Or not. They would have been just shot if Japan was like North Korea.
TW

You know, people have always have had the CHOICE to LEAVE the country and go back to one’s own, any time, whenever one wants. They have that freedom to CHOOSE in a free country, so they should do so for their own sanity and happiness.

That’s not so hard to understand, is it?
Level3

How about the Japanese (or Osaka) government takes those offers of 300,000 yen for a plane ticket home deals for the unemployed nikkei from Brazil and Peru, and give the same offer to the North Koreans?

I bet none would accept.
They’d have to give up certain luxuries, like electricity, hospitals, freedom of speech, food…
ダビ

“Those of North Korean ancestry in Japan….”

Strictly speaking they are not of North Korean ancestry, North Korea didn’t exist when their ancestors came to Japan. They did however choose NK citizenship over SK after the war. Apparently at the time NK seemed to many people like the country with the brightest future.

The Overthinker

It was – the bulk of Japanese industrial investment in Korea before the war was in the northern half, so all the factories and infrastructure was there for the taking after the war. For the first decade or so after the war Nork had a higher GDP. But then The Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious Leader and his buddies managed to squander all that and ruin the country.
http://www.chirimotsumoreba.net Jordan

North Korea was more industrialized after the war. It’s infrastructure was much more developed and militarily it was far stronger than the South for a very long time. On top of that Pyongyang was also considered a center of Christianity in Asia. It used to be called the Jerusalem of the East. Many Koreans probably figured all these factors together when deciding to side with the North after the war.

http://www.eltnews.com/columns/uni_files/ mikeguest

There’s one thing I do not get here. The governer of Osaka said that Japan is not a dictatorship, unlike N. Korea. Now why would that be an insult to N. Korea supporters??? Obviously they should be saying “Yes. It is a dictatorship and that dictatorship is great and benevolent due to our great leader” etc. because, dammit, they support North Korea’s system! Are they somehow implying that Japanese style democracy is better than the N. Korean system, the system they purport to hold allegience to? Denying that the country is a dictatorship, or arguing that saying so is some kind of insult, seems to me to be a denial of the alleged ‘supreme wisdom’ (or whstever) of Kim Jong-Il, which would not go down well in Pyongyang.

Level3

Heh heh, you’re assuming NK brainwashees and NK in general use logic. Just like any extremist/believer; be it creationists, 9-11 conspiracy nuts, UFO believers, jihadhis, etc. Logic doesn’t apply. Even if you trounce them in a debate, they will not change their mind, or even admit they lost. They are usually so far gone they don’t even KNOW they lost.
Though in the case of totalitarian dictatorships, there might be plenty of smart NK people who know better, but also know if they speak up, or even just remain silent rather than vigorously cheer the party line about the Great Leader, they’ll get themselves and their entire family re-educated with a bullet through the base if the skull.

Everything any foreigner says about NK is an insult.
Everything any loyal NK citizen says about NK makes perfect sense.

The best counteraction is to say “I know you just have to say what you’re saying because you’re afraid the Great Leader will kill you and your family. I understand.”

http://witzl.blogspot.com/ Mary Witzl

It is nonsense to expect Hashimoto to apologize for such an innocuous comment, and the people demanding this ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Pro-North Korean groups demand apology from Osaka governor

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