TOKYO, Oct. 19 (UPI) — Civic groups in Japan continue to campaign against ratified security bills that allow the country’s military to fight in overseas missions.
The Japanese government is moving at a brisk pace to expand the role of its Self-Defense Forces, and student demonstrations began again in the Shibuya district of Tokyo on Sunday, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
Organizations opposed to the bills have formed a committee to repeal the laws and were collecting signatures and holding protests, the Tokyo Shimbun reported.
Many of the groups organize over the Internet and are planning more rallies. Groups are often defined by interest and demographics; young mothers with small children assemble to discuss the law at picnics, and one protest group, Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy, or SEALDs, has engaged in various street protests.
On Monday, SEALDs assembled thousands to protest outside Japan’s parliament. A group of dissenting lawyers has been circulating a petition. Petitioners are saying the security law is invalid because the government did not leave a record of discussions regarding its reinterpretation of the country’s pacifist constitution.
Lawsuits have been filed in Tokyo District Court, claiming the security bill is unconstitutional and should be repealed, but the suits are too abstract to be taken into consideration, according to Japan press.
Japan’s war bills allow its Self-Defense Forces to fight overseas. SDF troops are already involved in United Nations peacekeeping operations, and they now are permitted to mobilize to protect Japanese citizens abroad.
South Korean outlet Newsis reported the SDF’s mission to protect Japanese abroad had invited controversy in Seoul, after Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn had said Japan’s forces would be allowed to enter South Korean soil if it needed to protect the 37,000 Japanese nationals in South Korea.
South Korean opposition party lawmakers rebuked Hwang, and on Monday Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se clarified Hwang’s earlier remarks.
Yun said that Japan’s Self-Defense Forces would not be allowed entry into Korea without the explicit consent or request of the South Korean government.
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