Leaving out the story of ‘descendants of independence fighters’ Japanese media “Ikeda from Tokyo”

“Having a Japanese name ‘Ikeda Umi'”

Amid the heated interest in Heo Mimi (21, Gyeongbuk Sports Council), a descendant of an independence activist who gave up her Japanese citizenship and wore the Taegeuk mark, a Japanese media outlet introduced Heo without mentioning that she is a descendant of an independence activist.

On the 30th, Japanese sports newspaper Sponichi reported on the women’s 57kg class final of the Paris Olympics Judo held at the Champ de Mars Stadium in Paris, France, saying, “Two people with ties to Japan faced off in the final and went into overtime.”

On that day, Heo Mimi competed against world number one Christina Deguchi (Canada).

The media outlet introduced Deguchi as “from Shioji City, Nagano Prefecture,” and explained, “She changed her citizenship to her father’s home country, Canada, and although she was not selected for the Tokyo Olympics national team, she confidently decided to go to Paris as the world’s number one.”

However, regarding Heo Mimi, the outlet said, “She is a third-generation Zainichi from Tokyo,” and “Her Japanese name is ‘Ikeda Umi,’ and she is currently a fourth-year student at Waseda University’s Department of Sports Science and the president of the women’s judo club.” It added,

“She has recently shown rapid growth, winning her first championship by defeating Deguchi in the finals of the World Championships this May, and has been selected for the Korean national team.”

However, the report did not mention that Heo Mimi is a descendant of an independence activist. Heo Mimi is the fifth-generation descendant of independence activist Heo Seok (1857-1920), who was imprisoned for posting an anti-Japanese slogan during the Japanese colonial period. He followed his grandmother’s will, “I want you to play as a representative of Korea,” and chose Korean citizenship and joined the Gyeongbuk Sports Association Judo Team. The following year, he passed the national team selection and wore the Taegeuk mark. Meanwhile, Heo Mi-mi lost to Deguchi that day and won a silver medal, but there have been reactions that the referee’s decision was questionable. In the match, Heo Mi-mi received two calls (56 seconds, 2 minutes and 4 seconds) during the 4 minutes of regulation time. If you receive three calls, you are declared a loss by a call. After a fierce match, the two players went into overtime, but during overtime, Heo Mi-mi was judged to have made a false attack while attempting a throw and lost by a false attack. In judo, if you pretend to attack and waste time, you are given a call by a false attack, but Heo Mi-mi had already received two calls before, so she lost by a false attack. After the match, many people, including SBS commentator Cho Gu-ham and the Korean women’s judo team coach Kim Mi-jung, have raised questions about the referee’s decision at the time. Heo Mimi, who won the first medal for Korean women’s judo in eight years since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, said about choosing the Taegeuk mark right after the game, “I felt like I did really well during this Olympics. I’m proud and happy that I made it to the finals.” 파워볼사이트