Court says anti-Korean activists' hate speech is 'discriminatory'
KYOTO (Kyodo) -- The Kyoto District Court branded on Monday as "discriminatory" demonstrations staged by anti-Korean activists during which they used hate-speech slogans and ordered them to pay damages for disrupting classes at a Korean school.
It is the first court decision in Japan in connection with hate speech fanning discrimination and hatred toward a certain race or minority, lawyers for the school said.
In handing down the ruling, Presiding Judge Hitoshi Hashizume said the actions of Zaitokukai members and other activists who shouted hate-speech slogans near the school in Kyoto city and posted video of the demonstrations online were "illegal" and banned them from staging further demonstrations.
The actions "constitute racial discrimination as defined by the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination," which Japan has ratified, Hashizume said.
Zaitokukai and the activists were ordered to pay about 12 million yen and banned from street demonstrations within a 200-meter radius of the pro-Pyongyang Korean school.
The operator of the school had sought 30 million yen in damages. The fine imposed by the court was nonetheless high to make effective action against racial discrimination, the ruling said.
Hashizume said the demonstrations scared the children and teachers, destroyed the studying environment and tarnished the school's reputation.
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Four of the eight defendants have been convicted of forcible obstruction of business and property destruction in connection with the demonstrations while the school's former principal has been fined 100,000 yen for unauthorized occupancy of the park.
October 07, 2013(Mainichi Japan)
