China slams NHK's denial of Nanjing massacre

BEIJING - China on Wednesday slammed the remarks of an official of Japan's public broadcaster, NHK, who denied the Nanjing massacre.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that such behavior is "a barefaced challenge to the international justice and human conscience."

Naoki Hyakuta, a member of the NHK board of governors, said that the Nanjing massacre never happened in a speech just a few days after NHK's new chief's comments about "comfort women", which sparked widespread anger.

"The Nanjing massacre is a brutal crime committed by the Japanese militarism during their invasion of China, which has irrefutable evidences. The international community already had a verdict about it," Hong said.

He noted that a handful of people in Japan attempted to blot out, cover up and distort that history, which is a barefaced challenge to the international justice and conscience of the human being. Such behavior is in the same line as those of some Japanese leaders who try to reverse the history. The international community should be highly vigilant at this.

Hong urged Japan to face up to and deeply reflect on the invasion history, handle the problems left over by the history with a responsible and proper attitude, and regain trust from its Asian neighbors and the global community with concrete actions.

More than 300,000 Chinese people, including infants and the elderly, were massacred after Japanese troops occupied the city of Nanjing in December 1937.