Now is the time to gather the will and power of the people of the world.

Comrades and citizens gathered at the square at 2 o’clock for the final march to the National Assembly building. I heard later that about 200 people gathered. The reason so many citizens gathered in Tokyo to participate was because Masahide Kimura (leader of Tent Hiroba) had promoted the event in advance to local comrades and encouraged them to participate.

I made the following point in my pre-departure remarks.
“The Japanese government has made a huge mistake. It committed such a huge tyranny without even asking the people’s opinion. This cannot happen in a democratic country. When the government makes a mistake, the people must directly correct it. Now let’s go Correct it.”

Comrades Cho Sang-ho and Cha Yun-hwa from Korea also participated. During the march, Bae Eun-mi, a Korean-Japanese comrade who is actively participating in Korean civil society, also came. At this time, without my knowledge, The Tamsa (former name of New Tamsa) was reporting this march live.

[Video] September 11th Korea-Japan Citizens’ Walking March Japanese National Assembly

The reason it goes to the National Assembly rather than the Japanese government is because Japan has a parliamentary system. If the Japanese government is making mistakes, the role of controlling them is the Japanese National Assembly. For now, we have no choice but to take issue with the National Assembly, which cannot control the government. Because that is the principle of democracy. However, the problem in Japan is that the National Assembly is ineffective. Only when the National Assembly stands upright can the Japanese government’s atrocities be corrected. This march is also intended to convey that meaning.

When we arrived in front of the National Assembly, there was no space. I thought it was impossible to hold a delivery ceremony in such a small outdoor space. Kimura-san said that since there was prior agreement with the Japanese police, we should just hold the handover ceremony in this space. I didn’t know it was a space like this and agreed to do so before leaving. But when I actually got here, my thoughts changed. At the very least, I argued rather strongly that if the delivery ceremony was to be held in front of the public, it should be held in a proper space. Since I could see the large space within the National Assembly building, I insisted that we be allowed to do it there. Since my claim was quite different from the prior agreement, time passed as the Japanese police seemed unable to make a decision.

At this time, the author also said that the Japanese police were rude. It was criticized that the sovereign people should be protected when they march peacefully, and that public servants such as the police should faithfully help the people speak and express their opinions peacefully, but they did not show such an attitude. In fact, in a democratic country, as long as the people perform peacefully, the role of the state is to sincerely help them do so.

After a long standoff, Otsubaki, a member of the House of Councilors, appeared. The House of Councilors is equivalent to the Senate in the United States. She offered her compromise. The idea was that we could deliver our petition and a collection of messages to the official directly under the Speaker of the National Assembly in her presence in her office in the National Assembly building. My group and I accepted this offer.

The petition delivered to the National Assembly at this time was introduced in Part 1.

[Walking 1,600 km to oppose the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima] 1. What was delivered to the Japanese National Assembly

[Declaration] ＜Declaration by Korean citizens to stop discharging nuclear polluted water＞

[Video] Video of the evening lecture on September 11th

The long journey has come to an end. However, the Japanese government is still dumping nuclear contaminated water into the sea.

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After returning home, I had another dream. It is the World Citizen March in June 2024 as shown below. It is a dream that not only Korea and Japan but the people of the world work together to stop evil deeds.

[Overview of the June 2024 Global Citizen March]

[June 2024 Global Citizen March Purpose Statement (Draft)]

“I don’t understand why they have to throw it into the sea. No matter how diluted it is, the absolute amount of radioactivity remains the same. The marine ecosystem will be destroyed. Radioactivity has a half-life, so if stored properly, it can be significantly reduced. Why can’t you store it? The Japanese government must stop intentionally destroying lives. Terrorism leading to the self-destruction of humanity must be stopped.
Now, the owners of the global village must step forward. Citizens of Korea and Japan are walking to raise awareness and prevent the discharge of nuclear wastewater. “It is possible when we walk together.”
This is the slogan that citizens of both countries shouted together while marching 1,600km from Seoul to Tokyo last summer.

With three major nuclear accidents over the past few decades, we have learned that humanity may be destroyed not by nuclear war but by a nuclear power plant explosion. Moreover, nuclear waste from 450 nuclear power plants around the world is fatal to future generations.
As you know, our oceans are already inevitably becoming polluted despite our best efforts to defend them. If possible, even contaminants that have already been discharged should be collected and treated separately. Despite this situation, intentionally dumping nuclear contaminants into the sea, as the Japanese government did, is an extreme crime that seeks to kill life on Earth. The United States and international organizations (IAEA) that tolerate and encourage this are no different from accomplices.
All living things on Earth are beings that mutually contribute to other living things in their creation and existence. Nevertheless, due to human greed, the balance of the Earth’s ecosystem is collapsing and its right to life is being violated. The crisis of life is the crisis of humanity.
The Japanese government is ignoring the London Convention (1996), which many countries, including itself, promised themselves, and the United Nations (UN) is ignoring the spirit of the World Charter for Nature (1982), which it created itself, and the Earth Charter (2000), which was created through the Rio Environmental Conference. While doing so, they just stand by and watch the destruction. There is no hope for humanity in this situation.
Humanity has a responsibility to respect other living things and protect and care for the Earth’s ecosystem. We also have an obligation to find ways to continuously protect the Earth’s ecosystem and pass it on to future generations. Therefore, the National Association of Oceanographic Laboratories (NAML), a collection of 100 oceanographic research institutes, and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a Nobel Peace Prize (1985) award-winning organization, have made clear their opposition to the release of nuclear polluted water.
Nevertheless, a series of national powers are destroying our one and only Earth and staking its future. The U.S. government also prohibits the discharge of nuclear polluted water in its own country, as seen in the cases of Massachusetts and New York, but is showing a contradictory behavior in ignoring this issue in the global community.
Above all, we are setting the wrong example for our sons, daughters and grandchildren. We are showing them as an example the selfish act of sacrificing our children’s future to enjoy the convenience of the current generation. Through this, our grandchildren will eventually learn this behavior and carry out similar evil acts against their descendants. This will only lead to mutual destruction.
This is our one and only Earth. Earth is the home where countless lives and our descendants will live in the future. Now, we must unite the will and strength of the people of each country to punish and correct the evil deeds committed. Now is the time. We have already experienced how people around the world are able to unite their will due to the development of IT. And I know the power that comes from having the same will. While capital power is trying to dominate the global village through the power of the current technological age, an era has arrived for the people in which they can also fully demonstrate their power in this technological age. A performance that symbolizes this is possible.
Showing a sign that the people of many countries, not just a few countries, can come together is another purpose of this June’s STOP Nuclear Contaminated Water Global Citizen’s March. As we march together, we will spread the will of global citizens, resolve our declaration, and share it with the UN and people around the world.
Now, let us unite our will and power together!

March 2024
GLOMA Committee

Editing: Guest Editor Wonyoung Lee, Editor-in-Chief Changsik Shim

(The author, Wonyoung Lee, is a former professor at the University of Suwon, who led a Korean-Japan citizen walking march to stop the discharge of radioactive contaminated water for about three months from June to September 2023. This article and photos are a record of that story.)

Wonyoung Lee, Guest Editor leewysu@gmail.com
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Categories: Korean-Japanese citizen walking march