南韓拒絕交出靖国神社放火疑犯到日本

Early this month the NHK News reported the following:

去年、ソウルの日本大使館に火炎瓶を投げつけた罪で、韓国で服役していた中国人の男が、おととし、東京の靖国神社に放火したとして日本政府が身柄の引き渡しを求めていた問題で、韓国の裁判所は３日、この中国人を政治犯と認定して、日本への引き渡しを拒否する決定を出しました。

日本政府は、去年１月にソウルの日本大使館に火炎瓶４本を投げつけた罪で、韓国の刑務所に服役した中国人の劉強容疑者について、おととし１２月に、東京の靖国神社で門の一部に放火した疑いがあるとして、韓国政府に対して身柄の引き渡しを要請し、ソウルの高等裁判所で審理が行われていました。
その結果、裁判所は３日、「靖国神社を単なる宗教施設でなく、過去の侵略戦争を正当化する政治秩序の象徴とみなした犯行で、政治的大義を実現するために行われた」と指摘して、劉容疑者を政治犯と認定し、日韓の条約による引き渡しの対象から除外されるとして、日本側の要請を拒否する決定を出しました。
劉容疑者の弁護士はＮＨＫの取材に対して、「非常に敏感な問題であることを考慮したうえで総合的に判断したもので、われわれの主張が十分受け入れられた」と話していました。
決定を受けて劉容疑者は近く中国に帰国することになり、日本と中国との間には容疑者の引き渡しを定めた条約がないことから、事件の全容解明は事実上難しくなりました。

(試譯文)

For the reason that he had previously set fire to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo the year before last year, the Japanese government was asking for the handing over of a Chinese male who had served his prison term in South Korea for the crime of throwing Molotov cocktails at the Japanese Embassy last year in Soul. On the matter the South Korean court regarded this Chinese as a political criminal, and on the 3rd took the decision of refusing to deliver him to Japan.

About this Chinese suspect Liu Qiang who had served in the South Korean prison for the crime of throwing four Molotov cocktails at the Japanese Embassy in Soul in January last year, the Japanese government suspected him of setting fire to a part of the gate at Yasukuni Shine in Tokyo in December the year before last and thus requested his delivery. The South Korean government in response to this delivery request held a trial in the High Court of Soul to decide the matter.

As for the outcome, the court on the 3^rd pointed out that "Yasukuni Shine is not merely a religion institution, it is the symbol of a political order that tries to rationalize the aggression war in the past that is regarded as a crime; the act was being carried out in order to realize political righteousness". As for Liu Qiang the suspect he was regarded as a political criminal, it was justified as an exception to the object of the delivery as covered in the Japan-South Korea treaty. The decision to refuse the request from Japan was made.

In an interview with the NHK suspect Liu's lawyer was saying that “it is a very sensitive issue to be judged, the judgment was made after taking all into consideration, and our opinion was very much accepted."

As a result of this court decision, suspect Liu would be going back to China soon, and since there was no treaty that would provide for the delivery of suspects between Japan and China, a full-scale investigation on the facts of the incident would become difficult.

I think politics is a sensitive matter for the court to judge; there is a danger that the decision may set a controversial precedent.