Japanese novel Silence is a novel about Jesuit missionary sent to 17th century Japan, who endured persecution in the time of Hidden Christians. It depicts Japanese samurai beheading people who refuse to step on the portrait of Jesus. A video showing Japanese extreme rightist demonstrators trampling on Korea's national flag Taeguekki. The video shows people taking turns to step on a version of the Korean flag in which the black lines around the red-andblue central circle are depicted as cockroaches. A man who is not shown in the video urges people to step on the flag saying the flag is fake Pepsi logo. This is no different from the outrageous acts shown in the novel Silence. Japanese anti-Korea protest, though mainly led by a few ultra-rightist groups, are going way too far. Although this is not true, it almost seems that it is in the blood of Japan to insult and destroys the values important to others. If they feel that their country is valuable, they should admit the values of other nations.

The international community takes insults to national flags seriously. If Japan indeed has a will to sustain peace and stability in Asia, it is obligated to enforce legal actions on its people that disturb peace. Even though there is a legal provision such as this, they insulted Korean national flag. I wonder how Japan will handle this issue, if they are even planning to do so.