[Anchor Lead]
The chief of the Korea Liberation Association has staged a rally in Manhattan, New York, to protest the use of the Japanese Rising Sun flag at the Tokyo Olympics. He also put up an electronic advertisement in Times Square to raise awareness about the issue and call for banning Japanese radiation-contaminated food.
[Pkg]
A march begins in the heart of Manhattan to the dynamic sounds of drums. It is staged by Korean-Americans donning white traditional shirts and black skirts. They are holding banners demanding that the Japanese Rising Sun flag be banned at the Tokyo Olympics.
[Soundbite] "Ban the use of the Rising Sun flag!"
The banners and leaflets feature the German Nazi flag that was used during World War II and the Japanese Rising Sun flag. The goal of the march is to let the public know why Koreans protest the use of the Rising Sun flag at the upcoming Olympic Games.
[Soundbite] "NEW YORK RESIDENT"
[Soundbite] "NEW YORK RESIDENT"
At 2 p.m. local time... One of the electronic billboards in Times Square is turned off for a moment before an advertisement publicizing Korea appears. Just when it starts to show chrysanthemum petals flying around, the chief of the Korea Liberation Association, Kim Won-woong, begins a three-steps-one-bow rally. Kim criticized the International Olympic Committee for racial discrimination in the form of viewing the atrocities of the Nazis on the Jewish people as a crime while keeping silence on the wartime massacres of Asian people by Japan.
[Soundbite] KIM WON-WOONG(DIRECTOR OF KOREA LIBERATION ASSOCIATION) : "It is unacceptable for us that the IOC condones the use of the Rising Sun flag, the symbol of invasion, atrocities and war crimes."
Funds for running the advertisement were raised by the public. The Korea Liberation Association plans to stage similar rallies in other cities of the world as well, including London, Amsterdam and Shanghai, to raise awareness about the use of the Rising Sun flag at the Toky
