Japan NHK Executive Team Returns Salaries After Broadcast Error Claiming Senkaku Islands Belong to China

by Roh Kyungjo

Published 10 Sep.2024 21:43(KST)

Japan's public broadcaster NHK has decided that four top executives will return part of their monthly salaries in relation to a broadcast last month on its radio station stating that the Senkaku Islands (known as Diaoyutai Islands in Chinese) belong to China. One executive in charge resigned.

The Senkaku Islands (Chinese name Diaoyudao), where Japan and China are engaged in a territorial dispute / Photo by Yonhap News

NHK Chairman Inaba Nobuo held a press conference on the 10th, saying, "This can also be called a hijacking of the broadcast. It is an extremely serious matter, and I deeply apologize once again," and announced the investigation results along with internal disciplinary measures.

The director in charge of international broadcasting decided to resign, and according to the Yomiuri Shimbun, four top executives including Chairman Inaba voluntarily returned half of one month's salary. Five others, including the head of international broadcasting, received disciplinary actions such as salary reductions.

The Senkaku Islands are a region over which Japan and China have a territorial dispute. Previously, a Chinese male employee in his 40s, who was working under a consignment contract translating Japanese scripts into Chinese for NHK Radio International, made an unexpected statement for about 20 seconds on the 19th of last month while reading news related to graffiti at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which was not in the original script.

He said in Chinese, "Diaoyutai and its affiliated islands have been Chinese territory since ancient times. We protest NHK's historical revisionism and unprofessional work." He also mentioned in English, "Do not forget the Nanjing Massacre. Do not forget the comfort women. They were wartime sex slaves. Do not forget Unit 731."