[Statement No.188 by Anti-Japan Action]
Let Us Eliminate the Pro-Japanese Fascist Clique that Persecutes the Patriotic Forces against Japan!
On July 19, Anti-Japan Action (Action Against Japanese Militarism) announced that it would end its all-night sit-in demonstrations, concluding 3,490 days of the Girl Statue, which is the symbol of the victims of the sexual slavery of Japanese military in second world war, and 1,853 days of continuous sit-ins. Since the treacherous ‘Republic of Korea (ROK)’–Japan Agreement, Anti-Japan Action has carried out these vigils at the Girl Statue in front of the former Japanese Embassy, raising the slogans “Eliminate the Pro-Japanese and Pro-American insurrectionists!” and “Smash War Scheme of the US and Japan” On June 23, 2020, after right-wing thugs launched political and physical attacks on the statue and attempted to obstruct the movement, Anti-Japan Action declared a permanent sit-in. Since then, rain or snow, under constant harassment by fascist police and pro-Japanese far-right groups, we have never wavered. Our unyielding struggle has proved in practice our indomitable will to fight and our strong commitment to national liberation.
We denounce the National Police Agency and the Security Investigation Division for branding Anti-Japan Action an “enemy-benefiting organization” and carrying out fascist repression. Under the pro-Japanese fascist regime of Yoon Suk Yeol, which branded patriotism as “treason” and painted treachery as “patriotism,” which sought to strangle our movement with the notorious fascist law, the National Security Law, even now, under the so-called “anti-coup” government, such persecution continues unabated. Last August 30, police raided on our former representatives and members, trampling on their right to remain silent while recklessly issuing summons. Last month, on the 26th, they escalated further by carrying out the outrageous emergency arrest of our former representative. Faced with this, we are ending all-night vigils and will now focus all our strength on militant struggle to strike back at the police and the Security Investigation Division.
Our struggle against fascism is at the same time a struggle against imperialism and Japanese militarism. US imperialism, in collusion with Japanese militarism, is openly preparing war in East Asia: proclaiming the “one-theatre” concept, conducting invasion drills with US and the ‘ROK’ forces against the DPRK, and staging joint exercises with the Philippines near China. Even after the fall of Yoon’s coup regime and the rise of the so-called anti-coup government under Lee Jae Myung, the ‘ROK,’ the US and Japan staged joint aerial exercises on July 11 using the US’s B-52H strategic bomber over our skies. On the very same day, at the trilateral Chiefs of Staff meeting, the Japanese side boasted of “strengthening deterrence against the DPRK,” further aggravating the danger of war. It is none other than the coup-collaborating fascist police, who shield and protect pro-Japanese traitors, that now persecute Anti-Japan Action. The more fascist repression intensifies, the clearer it becomes that pro-Japanese treachery and fascism are inseparable — as are betrayal of the people and betrayal of the nation.
The abolition of the National Security Law is the most urgent task of the present period. The Security Investigation Division and other state security organs have turned the blood-stained fascist blade of the National Security Law — a law fabricated by the US-installed puppet regime to repress independence fighters — against the patriotic activists of Anti-Japan Action. If, after August 15, 1945, the US military had not invaded this land and outlawed the People’s Committees, the autonomous organs of our people; if countless patriots had not been tortured and massacred under the National Security Law, our people would have advanced history in a unified, independent, and democratic fatherland. To restore national dignity and achieve independence is the historic duty of our patriotic youth. Anti-Japan Action will remain at the forefront of the just struggle to expel foreign domination and purge the pro-Japanese fascist traitors.
July 19, 2025 – At the Girl Statue, in front of Japanese Embassy, Seoul
Anti-Japan Action (Hope Butterfly, Progressive Youth League, National Union of the Unemployed, 21st Century Youth Union, Students’ Committee of the People’s Democracy Party)
