TOKYO, July 1 (Xinhua) -- A group of Korean residents in Osaka filed a complaint against hate speech targeting the ethnic Koreans on the Internet on Friday, the first day when an ordinance to deter racist propaganda came into effect in the city.
The ordinance, the first of its kind enforced by a major city in Japan, defines hate speech as communication which defames and aims to exclude an individual or a group from society based on race or ethnicity, and incites hatred and a sense of discrimination toward them.
According to the ordinance, Osaka could publicly disclose on its website the names of individuals or groups engaging in hate speech as punitive measure.
The Korean residents group in Osaka filed a complaint Friday against eight individuals and one group who have uploaded hate speech footage to video websites such as YouTube or repeatedly posted discriminatory remarks on social media such as Twitter.
The complaint will be looked into by a hate speech examination committee consisting of five academic and legal experts, and the mayor of Osaka will decide whether the case constitute hate speech based on the committee's evaluation.
The first meeting of the committee will be convened as early as in July, and the whole process of the judgment could take several months, according to the city of Osaka.
The Osaka Municipal Assembly passed the ordinance in January following confrontations in recent years between anti-Korean groups and those opposed to the discriminatory activities.
Hate speech in Osaka drew international attention in 2013, after an anti-Korean group held a rally in the city's Tsuruhashi district, home to many ethnic Koreans, and a video of the group attacking ethnic Koreans with insults and racial slurs was posted on YouTube.
