Rising sun flag flies at Mt. Fuji mountain hut, drawing criticism from Korean professor

A rising sun flag displayed at a mountain hut on Mt. Fuji, one of Japan's most popular tourist destinations, has sparked controversy.

Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women's University, said Tuesday he had received photos and video showing the flag hoisted on a flagpole at a Mt. Fuji mountain hut, and criticized the display as "tantamount to denying war crimes."

The rising sun flag was flown by Japan during its invasions of Pacific and Asian nations and remains a symbol of militarism and imperialism.

"Mt. Fuji attracts large numbers of foreign tourists," Seo said. "The bigger problem is that tourists, unaware of the flag's history, photograph and film it as though it were a general symbol of Japan."

Seo also noted that wooden walking sticks adorned with the rising sun flag are still being sold at mountain huts on Mt. Fuji and remain popular among tourists.

"This situation amounts to a wholesale denial of the war crimes and history of aggression Japan committed in the past," he said.

He added that he plans to produce a multilingual video highlighting the problem of the "Mt. Fuji rising sun flag," drawing on photos and footage submitted by Korean tourists who have continued to send in reports, and that the video would be distributed widely to Mt. Fuji visitors around the world across various platforms.