North Koreans apply to join Japan rally to protest textbooks
( 2001-06-06 14:48) (7)
Three North Korean officials wanting to join a weekend rally in Tokyo to protest controversial Japanese history textbooks have applied for entry visas, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday.
"It is true that we have received their entry requests," said the foreign ministry official, asking to be anonymous. He declined to comment on whether the government was likely to approve the applications or give further details.
Japan and North Korea do not have diplomatic ties, but the official said Japan had granted entry visas to "many North Koreans" in the past for business and sightseeing trips.
"Since Japan and North Korea have no diplomatic relations, the Japanese government does not recognize the North Korean passport as valid," the official said.
"But North Koreans can submit their entry applications to Japan and we will then give them so-called travel certificates that work like entry visas," he said.
North Koreans usually get the travel certificates at the Japanese embassy in Beijing, the official said.
Earlier the conservative Sankei Shimbun daily, quoting government sources, reported the three officials affiliated with North Korea's Workers Party had filed their requests on May 29.
According to their application, the three officials plan to stay in Japan from June 9 to 12 to attend the rally, the Asian Solidarity Conference on Textbook Issues in Japan, from June 10 to 11.
The same three North Koreans officials already visited Japan in December, the Sankei said.
The rally has been organised by a coalition of Japanese women's, educational and Christian civic groups, some of which were involved in staging a mock war crimes tribunal which put Japan and wartime emperor Hirohito in the dock in December.
Other participants from South Korea, China's mainland, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia are expected to attend.
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