Relations between Japan and South Korea have plummeted to their lowest point in years. Stemming from differences in perception over historical issues such as that of former wartime conscripted workers, worsened by the Japanese government's imposition of export controls, and subsequently extending to problems regarding cooperation on national and regional security issues, disputes now encompass all aspects of Japan-South Korea bilateral relations.
Amid the tensions, one problem that stands out in particular is that of the Rising Sun flag. On Sept. 12, the South Korean government lodged an official request with the International Olympic Committee to ban people from carrying the Rising Sun flag into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. On Sept. 30, the South Korean National Assembly also adopted a resolution on the same issue.
The background to this issue is that the South Korean understanding of the Rising Sun flag is essentially as follows. Before and during World War II, the Rising Sun Flag was used by the Imperial Japanese military, as a symbol of Japanese imperialism, and that like the Nazi flag — the hakenkreuz, or swastika — is should be eradicated from the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which are a festival of peace. Based on this kind of understanding, in modern-day South Korea, the Rising Sun flag (in the same way as the hakenkreuz) has now come to be referred to as the "war criminal flag."