With Korea marking Labor Day today,... a civic group in the southeastern port city of Busan attempted overnight to install a statue paying tribute to forced Korean laborers in front of the Japanese Consulate.
With the Busan City Government objecting to the installation,... some one hundred members of the coalition tried under the cover of darkness to erect the statue which symbolizes forced Korean workers taken to Japan during its colonial rule of Korea.
The installation was eventually stopped by police,... but clashes were reported for over two hours.
The group insists the statue "is not intended to intimidate" the Japanese, but says it wants an "apology and compensation" over the forced labor issue as part of efforts to build peace.