S Koreans condemn right-wing Japanese hotel distorting wartime history

One netizen denounced the denials of the massacre in Nanjing and the forcible recruitment of comfort women as "bullshit," with another regarding the book as part of the hotelier's strategy to court right-wing Japanese tourists in the right-leaning country. Another netizen demanded the cancellations of travel to Japan.

Motoya and his wife Fumio Motoya, founders of the privately-owned APA Group, are famous backers of Abe for a long time, according to local newspaper Chosun Ilbo posting an undated photo showing the Motoyas and Abe.

The newspaper denounced the hotel chain likening its complete history distortion to free speech. APA has refused to remove the contentious books from rooms, saying in a statement that Japan guarantees freedom of speech.

Controversy over the right-wing literature followed a diplomatic friction between South Korea and Japan over the statue symbolizing teenager South Korean victims to Japan's wartime sex enslavement.

The bronze, life-size statue of a seated girl which is dressed in traditional Korean costume was put up outside the Japanese consulate in South Korea's southern port city of Busan in December. The first statue was placed in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul in December 2011.

In retaliation, Japan recalled its ambassador to South Korea and its consul general in Busan, stopping negotiations on the bilateral currency swap deal.

The Busan statue was installed by South Korean civilians to protest against the Park Geun-hye government's "final and irreversible" agreement with Japan on the comfort women issue that was reached on Dec. 28, 2015.

It caused a barrage of criticism for the absence of Japan's acknowledgement of legal responsibility and its sincere apology for the wartime crime against humanity.

"The Dec. 28 agreement should not have been reached," said Cheong, the Peace Network director.

He noted that Japan will disgrace itself if it continues to attempt the removal of the Busan statue, which he said was set up to prevent the brutalities from happening again through promulgations.