Japan’s NHK reveals details of Chinese staffer’s unscripted on-air remarks

TOKYO — Japan’s public broadcaster NHK has revealed the details of a Chinese contract staffer’s unscripted remarks made on radio on Aug. 19. He reportedly said in English that people must not forget the Nanjing massacre, the wartime comfort women or Unit 731, adding that the comfort women were wartime sex slaves.

Unit 731 refers to a secret unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that conducted experiments on living subjects, including on Chinese prisoners of war, and developed biological weapons and poison gas during World War II. The man continued in Chinese, “Diaoyu Dao and its associated islands have been Chinese territory since ancient times. I protest NHK’s history revisionism and unprofessional work.”

Diaoyu Dao is the Chinese name for Uotsuri Island, a part of the islet group collectively called the Senkaku Islands, which are controlled by Japan and claimed by China.

NHK President Nobuo Inaba apologized for the staffer’s unscripted comments and explained the details at an Aug. 22 meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Research Commission on Info-Communications Strategy.

The contract worker had made the remarks during a Chinese-language newscast on the station’s international radio service aired shortly after 1 p.m. on Aug. 19. The broadcaster said during the meeting that it issued a stern protest to the staffer via his contracting organization, and had terminated his contract as of Aug. 21. Furthermore, NHK said it plans to file a claim for damages and take strict action, including considering filing a criminal complaint. Since the incident occurred live, on Aug. 20 NHK began prerecording its Chinese language broadcast programs. The station said that it will also start prerecording programs in other languages before the end of August.

In addition, NHK revealed a plan to establish a review body headed by Vice President Tatsuhiko Inoue to investigate the cause of the incident, hold the officials and other employees involved strictly accountable, and formulate measures to prevent a recurrence.

(Japanese original by Misaki Morokuma, Cultural News Department)