TOKYO - Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has partially revised a bill that would create a new offense for desecrating the national flag, removing provisions that would have punished the posting of such acts on social media.
The proposed legislation would make it a criminal offense to publicly damage the national flag in a manner that causes significant discomfort or disgust to others. Violators would face up to two years in prison or detention, or a fine of up to 200,000 yen.
The original version of the bill also included penalties for posting images or videos of flag desecration on social media platforms. However, after some opposition parties argued that the measure should give greater consideration to freedom of expression, the LDP removed the provision and conducted a renewed internal review of the legislation.
Under the revised proposal compiled by the party, a provision that would have punished individuals for distributing videos of themselves damaging the national flag and making them available to an unspecified number of viewers has been deleted.
The revised bill also adds a supplementary clause stating that the law should be reviewed approximately three years after it takes effect if changes are deemed necessary.
The LDP had been seeking support from opposition parties to secure passage of the legislation during the current Diet session. The revisions were made in response to concerns that the bill should better balance criminal penalties with protections for freedom of expression.
Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki announced on June 16th that his party had reached an agreement with the LDP on the revisions and would join as a co-sponsor of the bill. The LDP hopes to gain broader opposition support and pass the legislation before the current parliamentary session ends.
Source: FNN
