'Humiliate and behead parents of boy killer' [View All]

[bicentennial_baby]

"Kobe lawmaker's remark sparks furore; he says it is just a metaphor to highlight parents' responsibility

TOKYO - A Japanese Cabinet minister said yesterday the parents of a young boy who police say confessed to killing a four-year-old should be publicly humiliated and 'beheaded', prompting a furore over his choice of words.

'The parents should be dragged around town and decapitated,' said Deregulation Minister Yoshitada Konoike, 61, who holds minor portfolios and heads a panel on juveniles.

'The mass media should show the faces of the boy's parents,' an emotional Mr Konoike told a news conference.

Criminals in feudal Japan were dragged through the streets and publicly beheaded, and Mr Konoike said later he had intended his words as a metaphor to remind parents of their responsibility."

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,199307,00.html