Surrender marked

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe honoured the anniversary of the nation’s World War II surrender by sending an offering to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo yesterday.

The war memorial has been highly criticised due to the attention given to war criminals. Of the 2 466 532 names inscribed in the shrine’s Book of Souls, over 1 000 were war criminals. Of those, 14 were convicted of war crimes.

Neighbouring nations, such as China, South Korea and North Korea, consider the shrine to be a tribute to Japan’s militaristic past, and it has become a sore subject in international relations. – Telesur