August 15, 2018

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira on August 15 issued a statement on the 73rd anniversary of Japan’s surrender in WWII. The excerpts of Koike’s statement are as follows:

On the 73rd anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the Japanese Communist Party expresses deep sorrow for the people both at home and abroad who were victimized by militarist Japan’s war of aggression and colonial rule. The JCP will do its best to protect Article 9 of the Constitution, which Japanese people attained after experiencing the agony, destruction, and hardships of war, as well as to create a peaceful Japan based on the Constitution.

We have reached this year’s anniversary of the war’s end amid the emerging pivotal move to work for peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the rest of East Asia. As this is still the beginning of the process for the denuclearization and the establishment of a peace structure on the peninsula, continuous efforts are necessary to keep the process working. Now, the tone for the international politics surrounding the region has shifted from confrontation to dialogue, which is an epoch-making change for the better. The Abe government has been pushing forward with its move to turn Japan into a war-fighting country, using “the threat from North Korea” as a pretext. Abe’s argument will totally collapse if the peace process succeeds.

The JCP will keep exerting utmost efforts to realize a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula in firm solidarity with people’s peace movements in countries across the world which helped bring about the road to peace. This process will pave the way for the establishment of a multilateral security mechanism in this region. With its proposal for peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia, the JCP will keep working together with peace-loving people in Japan, Asia, and the rest of the world in order to make Northeast Asia peaceful and free from the fear of war.

Past related articles:
> JCP publishes statement on 72nd anniversary of WWII’s end [August 15, 2017]
> JCP issues statement on 71st anniversary of end of WWII [August 15, 2016]