By Ju-min Park and Lincoln Feast
SEOUL/TEAHUPO’O, Tahiti (Reuters) – Australian surfer Jack Robinson removed a rising sun flag, associated with imperial Japan and adopted by late Hawaiian surfer Andy Irons, from surfboards he is riding in the Paris 2024 Olympics after a complaint by the management of South Korea’s team.
Robinson included images on a since-deleted social media post of his quiver of boards at his accommodation in Tahiti with the red and white emblem, which is considered offensive in many part of East Asia due to Japan’s militaristic past.
“2 days to go. Boards inspired by AI,” Robinson said on the post, referring to three-time world champion Irons, who died in 2010 from a cardiac arrest in an airport hotel in Texas.
“I saw his post, thinking that board can’t be used because Olympics is a pure sports event,” Song Min, team manager for South Korea’s national surfing team told Reuters.
“Eventually the South Korean Olympic team visited Australian counterpart not to see that board during the Games.”
The Australian surfing team in Tahiti declined to comment.
Governing body the International Surfing Association was not immediately for comment.
Japan controlled Korea from 1910 until the end of the Second World War in 1945 and that history is still a source of animosity between the two U.S. allies.
The board Robinson rode in pumping surf in round three on Monday had a solid red bottom, but with faint signs of white stripes underneath.
Song said he appreciated the Rising Sun had naturally become something of a symbol of Irons and was used by surfers who perhaps did not understand the full history.
“But I do want to tell people that even if this design is chosen out of personal views, it can be embarrassing.
“This isn’t about South Korea protesting but this is what invokes some people’s scars so it should be banned for use despite freedom of expression.”
Robinson will surf in an Olympic semi-final against Brazil’s Gabriel Medina, most likely on Saturday. South Korea does not have an athlete competing at the Olympics surfing event, while Japan’s four surfers have been knocked out.
(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Tahiti and Ju-min Park in Seoul; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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