Journalist Hajime Yamamoto was not"fired" for expressing remorse about Japan's actions in World War II during a documentary aired in 1993, contrary to a false claim shared by social media users in South Korea. The documentary series was acclaimed at the time and Yamamoto was honoured at one of Japan's most prestigious television awards. Japanese public broadcaster NHK, which produced the series, also told AFP there was no record of Yamamoto being dismissed.
"Underlying a distrust in Japanese society is the belief that Japan failed to properly reflect on the crimes it committed in that war and became rich without overcoming its past," he says. He goes on to say a similar"egotism and hubris" from the past seemed to be rearing its head in modern-day Japan.Around 780,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced wartime labour by Japan, according to data from Seoul, not including women forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops.