Six days before New Year’s Eve 2011, a man was caught on camera attempting to set fire to the Mikado Gate of the Yasukuni Shrine. Fortunately, guards saw the flames and the fire was extinguished with little damage to the gate, the structure of which was erected in 1934.
A year later, the suspect has been revealed to be a Chinese citizen, who the Japanese government are requesting be extradited to Japan for trial. However, the Seoul Supreme Court, where the extradition hearings were held, has deemed that an extradition is not appropriate.
The article below discusses the Japanese government’s response to this judgement.
From Yahoo! Japan:
Ministry Of Foreign Affairs: Decision Over Extradition of Chinese Suspect ‘Extremely Regrettable’
On the evening of January 3, senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MOFA) expressed their deep regret at the decision of the Seoul High Court to not accept Japanese extradition of a Chinese suspect who allegedly set fire to the gates of the Yasukuni Shrine. As well as conveing their sense of regret to the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade through the Japanese ambassador in Seoul, the Japanese government once again requested that ‘(the suspect) should be extradited to Japan).
The damage caused to the Mikado gate of the Yasukuni Shrine by the fire.
On the other hand, regarding the fact that the same high court stated that the suspect was a ‘political prisoner’, a Japanese government official stated that, ‘It is clear that this is not a political crime. Japanese law is concerned with arson, not with politics,’ and expressed a strong dissatisfaction with the judgement of the same court.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
くんた（spp…）さん:
Regret ain’t good enough! Let’s stop all this swapping. And give all this good-natured stuff a break.
NAKA-G（yg_…）さん:
Regret isn’t enough!! Play hardball!!
すてっぷ（ste…）さん:
Regret is meaningless! It’s only a social sanction! Impose sanctions that make Korea suffer.
mas*apo**（mas…）さん:
Regret — hah! Just tell them to hand him over!!
NAKA-G（yg_…）さん:
Japan won’t allow a coalition between Korea and China like this!
lazy（laz…）さん:
Don’t think we need to bother with diplomacy any more
ばっしい（xxs…）さん:
I hate the word ‘regret’
MINERVA_88888888（min…）さん:
Instead of that, let’s expel all the zainichi Korean criminals from Japan. Other than Japan, they should just let them return to their beloved motherland.
グダグダ八兵衞（naw…）さん:
If they protect a criminal, they’re a criminal nation.
サーバント（jzd…）さん:
It’s regrettable that the word regret itself sounds so irresponsible.
hyp**_bvd（hyp…）さん:
Whether or not they will properly request extradition of the Chinese suspect will be the test of the Abe administration. They did it purposely the day before Nukuga Fukushiro visited Korea. The government ought to have cancelled Nukuga’s visit altogether! If Japan can’t adamantly resist Korea, and request extradition, then both legal reforms and the defence of Senkaku will break down, and the Abe administration will be over.
mf8（mf8…）さん:
There should be an international legal treaty between Japan and Korea that is a criminal extradition treaty. If that is not being adhered to, then Korea has no right to call itself a country with a constitutional government! Later on, Korea should be strongly reproached for this issue in an international conference of some sort. This won’t end with lukewarm words like ‘regret’!
めらめら（art…）さん:
They’re no different from the DPJ on stuff like this! Abe!!
yuki_hosyuha（yuk…）さん:
We should sever diplomatic relations with Korea. It’s only Korea and China who are countries that are so blatently anti-Japan!
七つ葉のクローバー（hap…）さん:
Violation of international treaty, by which I mean they’ll be hated by the rest of the world. Goodbye Korea. You’ll be isolated from the world.
mak*to*79*585（mak…）さん:
Koreans will be forbidden entry to Japan.
JOKER（ray…）さん:
Regret? Save your sleep-talk for when you’re sleeping, fool.
表示名（yam…）さん:
Our neighbouring country does nothing decent.
ktjkjw（ktj…）さん:
If Abe has the time to play golf and stuff, then he must have time for us to to resist properly as a nation!
