S. Koreans sue Japan's notorious shrine

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SEOUL — The bereaved families of South Koreans who were forcibly conscripted and died during World War II filed a suit with the Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday to demand the removal of the names of their deceased families, who were forced conscripts, from Japan's war-linked shrine, according to Yonhap news agency.

Local civic groups, including the Center for Historical Truth and Justice and the Pacific War Victims' Compensation Promotion Council, said at a news conference that 10 bereaved families of the conscripted victims demanded the deletion of their names from the list of Yasukuni Shrine, where the victims were enshrined without consent.

The bereaved families also filed a claim for damages worth 880 million won ($603,900) against the shrine and the Japanese government.

It marked the first time that a lawsuit demanding the cancellation of enshrinement at the Yasukuni Shrine was filed with a South Korean court.

The legal team was quoted as saying that for the bereaved families, the enshrinement at Yasukuni was not a simple religious ceremony but an act of aggression by incorporating the victims into the structure of glorifying Japan's war of aggression.

The shrine honors 14 convicted Class-A Japanese war criminals from World War II, including Hideki Tojo. It is known that about 20,000 Koreans who were forced into the war and died are also enshrined there. Some of the bereaved families filed lawsuits with Japanese courts to cancel the enshrinement.

Xinhua