LA City Leaders Are ‘Disrespectful’ for Removing Diplomatic Artifacts

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is under fire from activists for replacing several Asian artworks donated to the city with 2028 Olympic flags at City Hall.

Leaders of the Japanese and Korean communities accused Bass and other LA officials of being “insensitive” and “disrespectful” — and now they’re demanding the artifacts be returned to the spot where they were previously displayed outside the mayor’s office, the Daily Breeze reports.

The relics, donated to the country’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 so they can be displayed at the Los Angeles Convention Center after restoration.

On Thursday, local Japanese and Korean leaders held a press conference in Koreatown to complain about officials who had moved their precious belongings from their original places.

According to mynewsLA.com, both groups told reporters that the items are important because they are part of Korean and Japanese history, while also symbolizing LA’s diplomatic relations with Busan and Nagoya.

Amid the controversy, Bass said she also moved the busts of former Mexican President Benito Juárez and his wife Margarita, implying that the Korean and Japanese treasures were not the subject of discrimination.

LA will host the 2028 Summer Olympics and the first Paralympic Games.