By Andrew Warshaw
August 1 – The Korean Football Association (KFA) has defended its supporters for unfurling a politically charged banner in last Sunday’s East Asian Cup final against Japan which prompted a diplomatic spat between the two nations – and says Japan should shoulder some of the blame.
Japan lodged a protest with the East Asian Football Federation demanding an investigation after home fans in Seoul jeered the Japanese national anthem and raised the huge horizontal banner referring to Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula.
It was translated as “there is no future for people who forget their history” and was aimed at Japan’s reluctance to acknowledge its colonial past. The banner, which stretched across a wide section of the stands and was written in Hangul, was taken down at half-time but Japan still lodged an official complaint.
“I was hoping something like this would not occur this time, so it’s unfortunate,” Japan Football Association chief Kuniya Daini said at the time. “We ask the East Asian federation to thoroughly investigate the matter and act in the appropriate fashion.”
But in what is becoming an escalating dispute, the Koreans have now hit back by denouncing visiting Japanese fans for inciting the trouble by themselves raising the military flag of the Rising Sun, a symbol of Japan’s imperialistic past.
“The rising sun flag is a reminder of South Korea’s painful history,” the KFA said in a statement to the East Asian Football Federation. “This all started because Japanese supporters raised the flag right after the game started, which inflamed the South Korean supporters.”
The KFA said it was “extremely disappointing that even senior members of the Japanese government denounced South Korea”.
“They should stop criticising only what South Korea did while ignoring the fact that the Japanese supporters raised a large rising sun flag in the centre of South Korea’s capital.”
The Rising Sun flag also provoked anger in April when Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds hosted South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in an Asian Champions League match.
The Koreans said then that if they did not receive an apology, the safety of Japanese fans could not be guaranteed during the East Asian Cup.
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