Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, paid a visit on Tuesday to a controversial war shrine in Japan. Koizumi went to the Yasukuni shrine for the third year in a row, in spite of objections by his country’s Asian neighbors.
North and South Korea, China and other Asian countries have expressed their anger over Koizumi's previous visits to the shrine, which they view as glorifying Japan's militaristic past.
China said the move could "seriously damage" ties between the two East Asian countries. Beijing said the shrine glorifies Japan's military past and its mistreatment of Chinese during years of Japanese imperial rule. "It hurts the feelings of the Chinese people and other Asian countries," Foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said on Tuesday, according to CNN. "We urge the Japanese government to treat seriously the issue with the correct attitude."
South Korea, on its part, said it felt "rage and great disappointment" at the visit. "We urge a sensible judgment by Prime Minister Koizumi and the Japanese government so the feelings of people who have suffered from Japanese invasion are not hurt again," its foreign ministry spokesman said in statement.
According to the BBC, the Japanese Premier said he went "to mediate on peace with a clear mind and [Japan] never again causing a war".
His latest visit comes at a highly sensitive diplomatic time for regional relations, as Tokyo seeks to dissuade North Korea from pursuing a nuclear program.
The Yasukuni shrine honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who was hanged for war crimes in 1948.
The Prime Minister has defended his visits, saying they were not meant to glorify Japan's wartime role. "As I have said before, I want it to be understood that there is no change to our close relations with China and South Korea," Koizumi said. (Albawaba.com)
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