Hokkaido: A ceremony to mourn victims 35 years after the Korean Air aircraft was shot down

Recently the NHK News On-line reported the following:

大韓航空機撃墜事件から35年 犠牲者追悼の式典 北海道

2018年9月1日 19時45分

大韓航空の旅客機が旧ソビエトの戦闘機に撃墜され、日本人28人を含む269人が死亡した事件から１日で35年となりました。現場を沖合にのぞむ北海道稚内市では、犠牲者を追悼する式典が開かれました。

昭和58年の９月１日、ロシアのサハリン沖で大韓航空の旅客機が旧ソビエト軍に撃墜され、日本人28人を含む乗客乗員269人が犠牲となりました。

追悼式典は、現場を沖合にのぞむ北海道稚内市の公園で毎年９月１日に行われていて、１日は犠牲者の遺族などおよそ200人が参列しました。

式典では、はじめに参列者全員で黙とうし、遺族会の代表で事件で兄を亡くした川名正洋さんが「事件から35年になり、改めて平和の大切さを皆さんと考えていきたい」とあいさつをしました。

そして、遺族らが交代で「平和の鐘」を鳴らして、同じような事件が繰り返されることがないよう祈りをささげていました。

事件で父親を亡くした兵庫県の山口真史さんは「毎年、式典に参列する中で、父親のことや自分のことを考え直しています。事件から学ぶことがあると思うので、次の世代に受け継いでいきたい」と話していました。

Translation

   

A passenger plane of Korean Air was shot down by a fighter of the former Soviet with 269 people including 28 Japanese died. On the first it was 35 years after the event and a ceremony to mourn victims was held in Wakkanai-shi of Hokkaido, a location which overlooked the offing where the incident happened.

A passenger plane of Korean Air was shot down by the former Soviet army at Russian’s Sakhalin offing on September 1st of 1983; 269 passengers and crews including 28 Japanese were killed.

A mourning ceremony was performed on September 1st every year at a park in Wakkanai-shi of Hokkaido which overlooked a site in the offing, and on the 1st victims of the deceased families and others of about 200 people had attended.

In the ceremony, first of all participants prayed silently, then Mr. Masahiro Kawana, who had lost his elder brother in the incident, represented an organization of the bereaved family and addressed the ceremony by saying that “I’d like to think about the importance of peace again with you all, 35 years after the incident."

Then the families of the deceased took turns to ring the "Bell of peaceful", and prayers were offered so that no more similar cases would be repeated.

Mr. Masashi Yamaguchi from Hyogo-ken who lost his father in this event said "When attending the ceremony every year, I'm rethinking about the life of my father as well as mine. I think there is something to be learned from this event. So, I hope the next generation could inherit this."

This is a tragic air traveling disaster happened near the end of the Cold War.