Korean Students Up in Arms Over 'rising Sun' Flag in Canadian Classroom

By Jung Min-ho

Korean students in Canada are demanding that their teacher remove Japan's 'Rising Sun' flag ― a symbol of the country's wartime aggression ― from their classroom wall.

According to the Columbia Valley Pioneer, a local paper, Monday (KST), a ninth-grade student at Walnut Grove Secondary School in Langley, British Columbia, is leading a campaign against a history teacher's decision to put up the flag for 'educational purposes.

'

Since the student, surnamed Moon, posted a petition on the website Change.org on Sunday, it has garnered more than 8,500 signatures.

'Thinking of the tragedies my grandparents went through, we cannot imagine how someone wouldn't find this symbol inhumane and unethical,' Moon said. 'This is also an issue that matters to everyone who believes in the sacredness of fundamental human rights built upon the sacrifices of those fallen in battlefields during World War II.

'

He said the flag was 'extremely offensive' to students from Asian countries as it reminded them of Japan's horrific war crimes, such as the sexual enslavement of tens of thousands of young women.

'Everyone knows that Adolf Hitler and his administration committed atrocities against humanity.

But 'comfort women,' maruta (live human experiments), and the Rape of Nanking (Nanjing Massacre) are historic events that aren't taught in (Canadian) schools ― at least not with the same degree of importance as that of the...