Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is under fire from activists for replacing some Asian art works gifted to the city with 2028 Olympics Games flags at City Hall.
Japanese and Korean community leaders accused Bass and other LA officials of being “insensitive” and “disrespectful” — and now they’re demanding the artifacts be put back where they were previously displayed outside the mayor’s office, according to the Daily Breeze.
The relics — which were gifted to the nation’s second-largest city decades ago — reportedly include a model of a turtle ship from Busan, South Korea, and a replica of a Mikoshi shrine from Nagoya, Japan.
In June, Bass and the City Council approved the transfer of the antiquities to be displayed at the Los Angeles Convention Center after they are restored.
On Thursday, local Japanese and Korean leaders held a press conference in Koreatown to gripe about officials moving their cherished items from their original spot.
Both groups told reporters the artificats are significant because they are part of Korean and Japanese history while also being symbolic of LA’s diplomatic relationships with Busan and Nagoya, according to mynewsLA.com.
Amid the controversy, Bass said she also relocated the busts of former Mexican Pres. Benito Juárez and his wife, Margarita, implying the Korean and Japanese treasures were not the subject of discrimination.
LA will be hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics and its first Paralympics.