A GROUP of west Wales conservationists are urging First Minister Carwyn Jones to ensure the Japanese Ambassador is banned from entering Wales until the Japanese government stops all whaling.

Members of the West Wales Animal Welfare Group claim Japan is defying a ban by the UN International Whaling Commission by pressing ahead with plans to illegally kill 4,000 whales in Antarctica­.

In a letter to Mr Jones, the group’s Aberporth-based spokesman, Mark Franchi, highlighted a recent news item about the West Wales Maritime Heritage Society’s plans to erect a memorial to Japanese sailors killed by a German U-boat off the coast of Pembrokeshire during the First World War.

Mr Franchi, who pointed out Japan was an ally of Britain in the First World War, said that, in principle, he had no objection to the memorial.

“However, Japan at present has plans to kill 4,000 whales in Antarctica,” he added. “Whaling involves the slow painful death of these beautiful animals.

“It sometimes takes them many hours to die in great pain; the time has come when whaling must stop.

“The International Whaling Commission has banned Japan from hunting and killing whales in the Antarctic, so the government of Japan is illegally defying the IWC, the United Nations and the international community by continuing with their plans to kill these beautiful animals.

“I feel there should not be any memorial to these sailors until Japan abandons the murder of whales forever.

“The organisers will obviously invite the Ambassador of Japan to this event. I respectfully ask that the National Assembly of Wales bans the Ambassdor of Japan visiting Wales or at least declares that he is not welcome until Japan halts all whaling.”