An exhibition of the popular Japanese manga series "One Piece" will open Saturday at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul following a court ruling that found the government-run facility had no cause to rescind a contract for the show, organizers said Friday.
The exhibition, initially scheduled to start July 12, was put on hold after the memorial canceled a rental contract on an exhibition room for the event, citing a drawing similar to the Rising Sun flag appearing in the original comic series, which tells the story of pirates on the hunt for a fabled treasure.
Many Koreans view the flag as a symbol of Japan's wartime aggression and the Shinto-based militarism that drove the war effort. Acting on a complaint from the exhibition organizers, a Seoul district court on July 18 ordered the memorial to uphold the exhibition room rental contract.
"Our position remains unchanged that the exhibition is improper, but we have no choice but to accept the court ruling," an official at the War Memorial of Korea said.
The show itself did not include plans to display anything resembling the Rising Sun flag, according to the organizers.
Anti-Japanese sentiment still runs high in South Korea due to Japan's brutal colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945.
