Roundup: S.Korean politicians concerned over revived militarism in Japan

South Korea's rival political parties on Saturday expressed concerns in unison about a revived militarism in Japan after its upper house enacted a controversial security legislation pushed by the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe-led cabinet.

Lee Jang-woo, spokesman of the ruling Saenuri Party, said in a commentary that the enactment of the legislation, to which 80 percent of Japanese people opposes as it allows Japan to wage a military war, caused great anxieties from many countries and people in Northeast Asia.

The spokesman voiced great worry about possible "resurrection of militarism" that Japan actually implemented in the past in Northeast Asia, saying it was worried that Abe may have inherited the "blood" of ancestors who were very bellicose and carried out the past militarism.

The controversial security bills, which were passed through Japan's lower house in July, were rammed through the upper chamber on early Saturday to enable its troops to be dispatched overseas to engage in armed conflicts.

Japan's war-renouncing pacifist constitution, enacted after the end of World War II, bans its Self-Defense Forces from doing so or exercising the right to collective self-defense.

Kim Young-rok, spokesman of South Korea's main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, said in a press briefing that Japan's pacifist constitution was toppled and Japan's conscience was trampled down by the dream of distorted hegemony.

The spokesman expressed a strong censure on the Abe cabinet for abandoning its pacifist constitution and seeking a way to a military power, urging the South Korean government to voice clear worries and regrets over the security legislation enactment.

Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement that Japan should maintain the spirit of the pacifist constitution, which has been sustained after the end of World War II, and contribute to regional peace and stability when deciding on and implementing its security and defense policy.

The ministry pointed out the "perfect respect" for a third country's sovereignty when Japan exercises the right to collective self-defense, which was specified in the revised guideline on the U.S.-Japan defense cooperation.

It said that Japan must gain call or consent from South Korea before the collective self-defense right is exercised for reasons related with South Korea's national interest and the security of the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean people also expressed great worry and anger at the enactment in Japan of the security bills. A netizen said in his social network service (SNS) account that Japan will seek to colonize the Korean Peninsula like in the past under the excuse of protecting South Korea when armed conflicts break out between the two Koreas.

The Korean Peninsula was under the militaristic Japan's colonization between 1910 and 1945. During the colonial era, numerous Korean women was forced into sex slavery for Japan's military brothels, and a number of Koreans were recruited into forced labor.

Another netizen urged South Koreans not to forget the atrocities, which ancestors experienced during the colonial era, saying that such history can repeat itself with the enactment of the security bills in Japan. Endit