Korean-born naturalised Japanese citizen Oh Seon-hwa, an academic at Japan’s Takushoku University, was refused entry into Korea when she tried to enter the country on July 27 to attend a relative’s wedding.
The article speculates that this may be because of tense relations between Korea and Japan, while netizens have commented with their own thoughts about Korea and why Oh was refused entry and sent back to Japan.
From MSN Sankei:
Korean critic Oh Seon-hwa refused entry into Korea: is it because of the influence of her criticisms?
Korean-born critic Oh Seon-hwa (56) = a naturalized Japanese citizen = a professor from Takushoku University’s International Studies Faculty, was refused entry into Korea, and was sent back to Japan on July 27. Oh has been harshly critical of Korea in regards to historical problems among other things. A deterioration in Korea’s feelings for Japan is also a possible cause for Oh being refused entry into Korea.
On the same night as she was refused entry to Korea, Oh criticized Korea when responding to an interview at Tokyo’s Narita airport, saying that “Korea should not be considered a civilized country. Even human rights are nothing. I want a calmer correspondence.”
According to Oh, she went to Seoul in order to attend a relative’s wedding ceremony, so she arrived at Korea’s Incheon Airport just after 11:00am. However, at immigration she was directed to an adjoining office, to have her passport checked in more detail.
After about an hour and a half she was informed “we will not give you permission to enter the country”. Even when she asked the staff for reasons, the staff answered “because this is an order from our superiors”. She was made to wait in a separate room until an evening flight to Japan. Staff accompanied her until they could confirm that she had taken a seat inside the airplane.
The person responsible at the immigration check area of the Korean Ministry of Justice’s Incheon Airport Immigration Control Office responded on the phone to the Sankei Shimbun saying, “due to privacy I cannot answer”.
According to Oh, she was refused entry in 2007 to attend her mother’s funeral in her Korean hometown of Jeju Island, but since then she says there has not been a problem. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said “after all the facts have been reviewed we will consider our response to this”.
Oh came to Japan in 1983. Relations between Japan and Korea are the focus of her criticisms. She is the author of works including “A Korea That Expels Foreigners and Japan The Open Country” and “Swish of the Skirt” [“swish of the skirt” or “chima baram”, is a common derogatory term in Korean used to criticize women seen as overly bossy or domineering.]. At the end of April she met Prime Minister Abe Shinzo for a meal, which was reported critically in Korea.
Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Shindo Yoshitaka, who was at the time a member of the opposition party, attempted to go to Ulleungdo [one of the Dokdo Islands] for an observation one year ago, and was refused entry into the country; but it is exceedingly exceptional for a civilian to be refused entry into the country by reason of their thoughts and beliefs.
Comments from Twitter:
どこぞの馬の骨！:
It has been proven that this is not a constitutional country but a savage country that doesn’t recognise freedom of speech.
メチャ＠食いしん坊猫@:
Because it’s not a civilised country, this can’t be helped.
TeRuBo:
Even though she’s of the same race, if circumstances are bad, entry in to the country is refused. This is expected.
玉利英作
This happened even though it’s a democratic country?
タカハ・シユイ:
Poor Professor Seon-hwa(°_°)
北村ノア:
The reason they refused entry to the country is “because it’s an order from our superiors”. Seems the reason is their own thoughts and beliefs.
飯野泰夫:
So harsh!
しゅるけん:
This isn’t a civilized society. Because there is no guaranteed freedom of speech they can’t get a Nobel Prize.
masahito_ooi:
When you say normal people who are holding a Japanese passport are refused entry into the country, is it because this is unheard of? Not to mention, isn’t this a Korean born person? It’s good to rise up to Japan hate but, isn’t the Immigration Bureau a mechanism of the country? I want more calm.
おっくん:
So in Korea, citizens of that country don’t have freedom of speech. This is not a civilized country so this is understandable.
ぬまおっち:
Uncivilised countries are scary.
This is the same as what any Communist nation is doing. Saying this is a democratic, developed country is ridiculous. wwww
まっつぅ:
But its bad when there is the opposite situation in Japan too. We can’t expect a loopy traitor to Japan not to be refused entry into Japan. (笑)
よしみ♪＠みよし♪ :
mytee People who say bad things about one’s own country are refused entry into the country. These kinds of countries that pretend to be a developed nation get laughed at.
水の亜美:
This is what self proclaimed developed countries do ww
(´ｰ ω☆`):
This isn’t what democratic countries do.
奥野正美:
This is not allowed.
GX999:
When did that savage country become a civilised nation?
号泣とは大声で泣き叫ぶこと:
A country where the citizen’s feelings are given priority over the law.
myaa:
This country is regressing, it’s going in a more and more isolated direction. If it keeps going like this, after many years, it will be reunited with the North as one peninsula.
