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June 24, 2005
Sit-in to be held in front of PM's Office: June 24-26
Kazoku Kai (Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea) and Sukuukai (National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea) will hold a sit-in near the Prime Minister's Office to demand economic sanctions against North Korea. Details are as follows:
[Date/time]
.. Friday, June 24: 10 AM- 3 PM
.. Saturday, June 25: 1 PM-5 PM
.. Sunday, June 26: 1 PM-5 PM
.. (& public meetings at Seiryo Kaikan on Sat and Sun at 6 PM )
[Place]
.. Near the PM's Official Residence (In front of the
.. Diet Member's Office Building),
.. Subway Kokkai Gijido and Nagatacho stations
.. [map]
Family members and support group members will gather from across Japan and take part in the sit-in. Anyone can drop by and quietly join the action. Come and show that you care!
--Editor-in-chief, THINK
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Background Reading:
"On 24 June 2005, a three day "sit-in" will commence in front of the offices of the Japanese Prime Minister, organized not by a radical leftist group but by some of Japan's most famous and respected citizens and enjoying powerful backing in the National Diet and media, to demand the imposition of immediate economic sanctions against North Korea. Only by such means, the organizers argue, can North Korea be forced to return Japanese citizens they believe are still being held in North Korea against their will. As of that date, it will be six months since Prime Minister Koizumi declared, in December 2004, that the explanation thus far offered of the abductions by North Korea was unsatisfactory and false, in particular that the cremated human remains offered as evidence of the death of the most famous of the abductee victims, Yokota Megumi (on whom see below), were in fact not hers. The Japanese government therefore and promised "stern measures" unless Pyongyang responded "promptly and sincerely" to set matters right, and the sit-in will demand immediate recourse to these "stern" measures. More than five million people have signed a petition to that effect, and a meeting in Tokyo's Hibiya in April 2005 to promote this cause drew 6,000 people. The leaders, including the parents of Yokota Megumi, are household figures, regulars on major television channels. Their patience is exhausted, they say, and their anger at Koizumi's refusal to do as they demand, or even to meet with them and hear their demands, is at high pitch. If still not satisfied, they promise to renew their "sit-in" in July and subsequent months, and to expand it around the country."
(by Gavan McCormack, Znet, June 13, 2005. [Full text])
Posted by THINK at June 24, 2005 04:18 AM