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First, it appears as a benign symbol to pray for world peace, however, it was revealed to be a malicious diplomatic tool to damage the reputation of Japan.
In May this year, Yeom Tae-young, mayor of Suwon city, Korea, proposed to build the statue in the German city and reached an agreement over the phone by the end of August. Ever since this news was carried, much worry and concern was raised in Japan, for it would be the first statue for spreading lies erected in Europe. However,faced with the opposition from another sister-city Matsuyama in Japan, Freiburg reconsidered the appropriateness and decided not to build the statue. On September 24, Dieter Salomon, mayor of Freiberg, notified his intention not to accept the proposed gift from the city of Suwon. On the same day, he said in Badische Zeitung, a local newspaper, that gthe real intent was to build the statues everywhere around the world and place diplomatic pressure upon Japan. When I realized it, I felt I was abused.h In response to the news that the Suwon city had a plan to build the statue with Freiburg, mayor of Fukui city in Japan, which has kept a friendly relationship with the Suwon city, has sent a letter of protest to convey his concern and cancelled its planned tour of the mayor and four accompanying officials to visit the city in early October saying, gWe asked the Suwon city about the facts but received no answer. We have to take account of the feelings of the Japanese nationals.h |
