Japanese citizen Nobuyuki Suzuki (58), who committed the atrocity of tying stakes to the Japanese military comfort women statue, failed to appear at a trial held in South Korea, prompting the court to issue an arrest warrant.
On the 10th, Judge Kim Sang-il of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 1 held a hearing for Suzuki, who was indicted on charges including defamation, but the trial was stalled as he did not appear.
The court explained, "Despite delivering a summons to the defendant through criminal judicial cooperation procedures, he did not appear," adding, "The next trial date is set for the 21st of next month, and the summons has been delivered to the defendant."
The prosecution requested the court to issue an arrest warrant for Suzuki, stating, "The defendant has not appeared at the trial for several years." In response, the court said, "If he does not appear at the next hearing, we will proceed with criminal judicial cooperation procedures for re-summoning and issue an arrest warrant."
Suzuki was indicted on charges of damaging the honor of the surviving grandmothers by tying stakes inscribed with "Takeshima is Japanese territory" to the comfort women statue in front of the former Japanese Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul, in June 2012. He also committed the same atrocity at the monument honoring patriot Yun Bong-gil. In 2015, he was charged with sending a model of the comfort women statue insulting the victims and a white stake model inscribed with "Takeshima is Japan's inherent territory" to the Nanum House in Gyeonggi Province and other locations.
Until this day, the court has requested his appearance a total of 23 times, but Suzuki has never appeared in court even once.
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