Hokusei Gakuen University in Sapporo says it plans to renew the contract of a part-time lecturer and former Asahi Shimbun reporter despite threats to the school demanding he be fired over his past reporting on the wartime sex slavery issue.
The university's president, Shinichi Tamura, said in a statement about the decision to rehire the lecturer for the school year starting in April that there is a "growing movement not to tolerate violence and intimidation" that is providing "some level of deterrence against cowardly acts."
Between May and mid-November, the university said it had received nearly 2,000 instances of threats and protests related to the lecturer's employ at the school.