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Japan to recall ambassador to China (SET, 27th February, 2018)
PYONGYANG — Japan will recall its ambassador in Beijing after Chinese Foreign Minister and Prime Minister-designate Guo Quan praises the 2010 bombing of the Japanese Embassy in Pyongyang by radical left-wing students during a speech at the Kim Koo University, formerly known as the Kim Il-sung University. Guo Quan also asks Pyongyang to demolish the golden statue of late Japanese Prime Minister Ichiro Ozawa in front of the Kim Koo Square, and accuses Pyongyang of being a puppet of Tokyo for failing to honour the martyrs of the “patriotic self-determination movement” against “Japanese neo-colonialism”.
“Tokyo wants to express its dissatisfaction in this way,” an official close to the Japanese embassy and China’s foreign ministry, who asked not to be named, told SET. “This means a potentially great crisis in relations between the two countries, because as long as the tension does not drop, the ambassador will not return.”
The North Korean prime minister cancels a scheduled meeting with Guo Quan in protest, the ruling Christian Social Democratic Party issued a strong statement condemning Guo Quan’s behavior in Pyongyang. Despite anti-Japanese sentiment due to continuous reports of cheap labour exploitation in the poorest regions by Japanese firms in the early 2000s, Ichiro Ozawa is remembered fondly in the memory of many North Koreans.