Japanese hotel orders removal of An Jung-geun memorial stone after backlash

A Japanese hotel that hosted what was described as the fourth An Jung-geun memorial stone erected in Japan has decided to remove it, saying it failed to adequately review the inscription beforehand. The Kuroshio Hotel in Konan, Kochi Prefecture, announced Thursday on its website that it would remove the stone — installed on its grounds June 6 — by Friday.

The hotel said it had granted permission to use part of its site after receiving a request from Nishimori Shiozo, honorary chairman of the Kochi Prefecture Japan-Korea Friendship Association and a former speaker of the Kochi prefectural assembly. Nishimori had asked to erect a stone to mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea. However, the hotel added that it had not confirmed the specific wording of the inscription in advance.

"We agreed to lend the site in the spirit of a monument symbolizing Japan-Korea friendship, but we only learned the contents of the inscription on the day of the unveiling ceremony, June 6," the hotel said. "We reflect on our failure to verify the details and our insufficient review of the historical and social context surrounding the monument."

The right-leaning Sankei Shimbun, explaining the backdrop to the hotel's decision, reported that "the view that An Jung-geun was a terrorist who assassinated Ito Hirobumi is strong" in Japan, and that protests and criticism had emerged online.

The An Jung-geun Worship Association, a South Korean civic group, had earlier announced the erection of the Kochi Prefecture stone, noting that the phrase "Korea-Japan friendship, peace in Asia" — a value An championed — was engraved on its face.

The association had expressed hope that the stone's installation would "serve as a meaningful occasion to widely promote An Jung-geun's philosophy of peace in Asia and the spirit of shared human prosperity, and to convey to future generations the importance of reconciliation and cooperation between Korea and Japan."

The removal has renewed attention to the divergent views the two countries hold of An Jung-geun. In South Korea, he is revered as an independence activist who resisted Japanese imperial aggression and a thinker who articulated a vision of pan-Asian peace. In some quarters of Japan, however, the focus falls on his assassination of Ito Hirobumi. Observers note that this gap in historical perception continues to affect private-sector exchanges and commemorative projects between the two countries.

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