Japan PM sends offering to controversial war shrine

ToKYo: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has sent a ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni shrine that honours war dead, including perpetrators of the country’s World War II atrocities on its neighbours.

South Korea expressed “deep disappointment” at Suga’s offering to the shrine yesterday to mark a spring festival.

The Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo honours some 2.5 million war dead, mostly Japanese, who perished in the country’s wars since the late 19th century.

But it also honours senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes, and has frequently been a source of sour relations with countries that suffered from Japan’s military atrocities.

In a statement yesterday, Seoul’s foreign ministry expressed “deep disappointment and regret” over Suga’s tribute and urged Japan’s leaders to “face history squarely and humbly and truly reflect on the past”.

“Japan should keep in mind that it is the basis of a futureoriented Korea-Japan relationship,” it added.

Suga sent a sacred tree but did not visit the shrine in person.

His offering of “masakaki” leaves was his second since taking office in September.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters that Suga’s offering at the shrine was considered “an activity as a private person” and that the government was not in a position to comment about it.

Suga’s predecessor Shinzo Abe, who stepped down last year for health reasons, visited the shrine in person yesterday.

A 2013 visit to the shrine by Abe, when he was serving as prime minister, sparked outcry from Seoul, as well as a rare diplomatic rebuke from close ally the United States.