by Catholic News Service
SEOUL, South Korea -- Asian religious leaders have pledged to continue supporting retention of the Japanese Constitution article that prohibits the country from building up its military forces or going to war.
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tIn early December in Seoul, about 80 Christian and Buddhist religious representatives from eight Asian countries and territories attended an interreligious conference on Article 9 of Japan's Constitution, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.
"It is very meaningful for participants, especially the Japanese, to have the meeting in Seoul, because Koreans suffered under Japan's colonial rule," said Auxiliary Bishop Michael Matsuura of Osaka, president of Japan's Catholic Council for Justice and Peace. "When participants go back to their country, they will transmit the message of Article 9 and identify their own peace issues."
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tThe Japanese government faces mounting pressure from conservative groups in the country to change Article 9, which Japan included in its post-World War II constitution at the insistence of the victors.
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tThe article states that Japan will not maintain land, sea and air forces to wage war, and that the Japanese people "forever renounce war" or use of force as a means of settling international disputes. However, Japan does have official air, ground and maritime self-defense forces.
At the end of the Seoul conference, participants released a statement saying the threat to revise Article 9 is real and that the existence and activities of the self-defense forces and the presence of U.S. armed forces in Japan "strip Article 9 of its essential message."
