Man stabs self at airport, cursing at Japan envoys

A member of an anti-Japan group stabbed himself during a rally protesting against the visit of special envoys of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Korea at Gimpo International Airport, Friday.

According to police, the 63-year-old man, surnamed Kim stabbed himself with a knife while in the arrival area of the airport in western Seoul at around 11:15 a.m. Two police officers moved him to a nearby hospital. The injury was not critical, police said.

Police said the incident took place before the envoys arrived. The delegation, including former Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, two lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Koro Bessho, came to Korea to meet President-elect Park Geun-hye.

Kim’s group was protesting there. It claimed the Abe administration has distorted history about sexual slavery that occurred during World War II, forced labor and other wartime atrocities as well as the Korean islets of Dokdo, claimed by Japan.

Oh Cheon-do, head of the conservative group, said, “The incident occurred unexpectedly. I was shocked, too. But I think it was motivated by his ardent patriotism.”

Police said they don’t plan to book Kim or bring any charges against him, adding they will let him go home after medical treatment.

Kim previously rammed his cargo truck into the main gate of the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul last July. Kim said at that time he did so to protest against a right-wing Japanese activist, who set up a provocative wooden stake beside a statue symbolizing former sex slaves near the embassy. He attached a sign to his truck that read: “Dokdo is Korean territory.”

He was later sentenced to one year in prison for the act; this was then suspended for two years. <The Korea Times/Kim Rahn>