LDP Members Split over Criminalizing Japan Flag Desecration

Tokyo, April 1 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is divided over a proposal to establish a crime for damaging the national flag, but the party aims to reach a consensus as early as the end of this month. At the first meeting of an LDP project team at party headquarters Tuesday, some members called for enacting a bill to criminalize damage to the national flag during the ongoing session of the Diet, the country’s parliament. But others expressed caution, reflecting concerns over freedom of expression. The coalition agreement between the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party calls for establishing a crime of damaging the national flag during the current Diet session, saying, “We will correct the inconsistency whereby only the crime of damaging foreign national emblems exists.” “There are various issues and opinions,” former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, who heads the project team, said at the meeting. “From a legislative point of view, we want to study cases from countries around the world and deepen discussions.” The Justice Ministry reported at the meeting that between the 1950s and 1970s, the crime of damaging foreign national emblems led to indictments in three cases, with indictments being dismissed in three other cases, including one case in which the prosecution was suspended. Some participants at the meeting said that the LDP should follow the agreement with the JIP. Former Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya expressed a cautious view, however. The benefit protected by the crime of desecrating a foreign national emblem is relations with foreign countries, he said. It would be strange to treat this in the same category as desecration of Japan’s national flag, he said. The envisaged crime “must not infringe the ‘freedom of conscience’ and ‘freedom of expression’ guaranteed by the Constitution,” he added. Within the LDP, enacting a new law through a simpler legislative process than amending the Penal Code is seen as the most likely course of action. The focus of future debate will be what specific acts to target and what level of penalties to impose. Voices questioning the need for criminalizing damage to the country’s national flag are unlikely to fade away anytime soon. Doubts are also being raised by the opposition. At a press conference Tuesday, Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, said that the envisaged crime “raises significant issues regarding freedom of expression.” “Even in the United States, damaging the national flag as an expression of political will cannot be punished.” he said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]