Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae attends a national memorial ceremony for war dead on Saturday. She did not visit Yasukuni Shrine but made no mention of remorse for Japan's wartime aggression in her address, drawing criticism for a rightward tilt. [Yonhap]
Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae attends a national memorial ceremony for war dead on Saturday. She did not visit Yasukuni Shrine but made no mention of remorse for Japan's wartime aggression in her address, drawing criticism for a rightward tilt. [Yonhap]

South Korea's government on Saturday condemned offerings and visits to Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese political figures, and summoned a Japanese defense official to lodge a strong protest over Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro's visit to the shrine — the first by a sitting Japanese defense minister in two years.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a spokesperson's statement saying the government "cannot but deplore the anachronistic, history-forgetting acts of Japan's responsible senior leaders, who have once again made offerings or paid visits to Yasukuni Shrine — a shrine that glorifies Japan's past wars of aggression and enshrines war criminals."

The statement urged Japan's responsible leaders "to squarely face history and demonstrate through their actions humble reflection and genuine remorse over the past," adding that this "is an important foundation for building a future-oriented Korea-Japan relationship grounded in mutual trust between the two countries."

Kim Hak-jo, director general for international policy at the Ministry of National Defense, summoned Nagayoshi Takeshi, Japan's defense attaché to South Korea, to the ministry building that day and lodged a strong protest over Defense Minister Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine, the Defense Ministry said.

Kim said he could not but express deep regret that the Japanese defense minister had proceeded with a visit to Yasukuni Shrine, which glorifies past colonial aggression and wars of invasion and enshrines war criminals.

He also expressed serious concerns, saying the visit runs directly counter to the efforts of both South Korea and Japan to build a future-oriented relationship grounded in trust while squarely facing history.

Members of a Japanese right-wing group make their way to Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday. [Yonhap]
Members of a Japanese right-wing group make their way to Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday. [Yonhap]

Lee Min-kyung, director general of the Asia-Pacific Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also summoned Tsujo Kazuo, minister at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to the ministry that day, lodging a stern protest and expressing strong regret over the repeated offerings and visits to Yasukuni Shrine by Japan's responsible senior leaders.

On Saturday — South Korea's Liberation Day and Japan's defeat anniversary — Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae made a personal monetary offering to Yasukuni Shrine, doing so in her capacity as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party rather than as prime minister.

She conveyed the offering through LDP Secretary-General Suzuki Shunichi, who led an unusually large group visit by senior party officials to the shrine that day.

Takaichi had regularly visited Yasukuni every Aug. 15 before taking office, but observers noted she held back from visiting this year — her first defeat anniversary as prime minister — out of consideration for the likely backlash from neighboring countries including South Korea and China.

Four sitting cabinet ministers also visited Yasukuni Shrine: Defense Minister Koizumi, Minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs Kikawada Hitoshi, Minister for Economic Security Onoda Kimi, and Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy Kiuchi Minoru.

The last time a sitting defense minister visited Yasukuni on Japan's defeat anniversary was in 2024, when then-Defense Minister Kihara Minoru did so. Seoul has consistently viewed visits by the sitting defense minister — Japan's top official responsible for national defense — to the shrine, which enshrines Class-A war criminals, more gravely than visits by other cabinet members.

Members of a cross-party lawmakers' group called "Dietmembers' Group for Everyone to Visit Yasukuni Shrine Together," as well as the LDP's "Conservative Unity Group," also visited the shrine Saturday morning.

Kamiya Sohei, leader of the right-wing Sanseito party, and Hyakuta Naoki, leader of the Japan Conservative Party, also visited Yasukuni Shrine.


jiyun@heraldcorp.com