hankyoreh

By Jeong Nam-ku, Tokyo correspondent, Park Min-hee, Beijing correspondent and Park Tae-woo, staff reporter

The South Korean government repatriated a Chinese national who set fire to Japan's Yasukuni Shrine, following a court ruling. The decision was welcomed by Beijing but triggered stern protests from Tokyo. With even the Japanese prime minister joining the outcry, Japanese news outlets are now predicting the issue will be another sore point in relations between Seoul and Tokyo.

During a beginning-of-year press conference on Jan. 4, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe voiced his displeasure at Seoul High Court's Jan. 3 ruling not to extradite Liu Qiang to Japan to face charges for throwing a gasoline bomb at the shrine.

"They are disregarding the extradition treaty between our two countries. It's extremely unfortunate, and I wish to express my strong objections," Abe said.

The Japanese foreign ministry also reported vice-minister Kawai Chikao as demanding appropriate measures from Seoul in a telephone call to South Korean ambassador to Japan Shin Kak-soo, telling him the case "did not meet the terms for refusing extradition according to the two countries' extradition treaty."

Tokyo also protested to Seoul through its ambassador to South Korea, and special envoy Fukushiro Nukaga reiterated its displeasure during a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-hwan after visiting President-elect Park Geun-hye.

Kim responded to Nukaga's remarks by saying the South Korean government "respects the legal decisions of our judiciary, and hopes Japan will also respect our courts' decisions."

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper predicted that the issue "could surface on the diplomatic agenda between Seoul and Tokyo."

Meanwhile, Beijing welcomed the decisions of the South Korean court and government. Foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Jan. 3 that China "welcomes this outcome," adding that Liu was already in Chinese custody and would be returning to China within a few days.

As news of the court's decision spread, Liu was greeted as a "hero" in China for setting fire to the shrine, which is considered a symbol of Japan's imperialist past. Messages on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging service similar to Twitter, described him as a "hero" and a "true son of China." Chinese internet users also praised South Korea's decision, calling it "worthy" and saying that Seoul had "proven it has not forgotten its history of humiliations."

The Beijing News and several other major Chinese newspapers dedicated front-page space to the court decision, but the reports were generally factually based coverage of the foreign ministry's response, with an emphasis on the remarks welcoming the court's ruling.

Chinese authorities are expected to limit Liu's contact with the media due to concerns about additional diplomatic frictions.

One day before, the 20th criminal division at Seoul High Court, under chief judge Hwang Han-sik, ruled the day before to deny the Japanese government's request for Liu's extradition, arguing that the arson attack on Yasukuni Shrine was a "political crime" according to the terms of the South Korean-Japanese extradition treaty.

Explaining its reasons for deeming Liu a "political prisoner," the court said his actions in Japan "appear to have stemmed from his rage at the Japanese government's position and policies on the comfort women [women drafted to serve as sexual slaves to the Japanese military during World War II] and other historical issues, and while Yasukuni Shrine is by law the property of a religious group, it also has status as a political symbol on par with a state facility."

The court went on to say that "Liu Qiang's views on historical facts regarding the comfort women issue and other past incidents, the perceptions on worship at Yasukuni Shrine, and Japan's policies in regard to them share a common thread with the philosophy of the Republic of Korea's Constitution and the universal values aspired to by international organizations such as the United Nations and most civilized countries."

"As Liu Qiang's extradition to Japan would be a repudiation of the Republic of Korea's political order, the philosophy of its Constitution, and the universal values of civilized countries, it would not conform to our principle of not extraditing political prisoners," the ruling continued.

Liu, who claims his maternal grandmother was a comfort woman, arrived in South Korea after committing the arson attack on Yasukuni Shrine in December 2011. In January 2012, he was sentenced to ten months in prison by a South Korean court for throwing gasoline bombs at the Japanese embassy in Seoul.

In May, the Japanese government requested his extradition to Japan. He was arrested and tried again for a review of the extradition request after completing his sentence.

Liu departed South Korea for China on Friday morning.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]