South Korea urges Japan's leaders to 'face history' and show genuine reflection through action

Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae. [EPA]
Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae. [EPA]

South Korea expressed "deep disappointment and regret" after Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae offered a ritual gift to Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines Class-A war criminals from the Pacific War.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a spokesperson's statement Saturday saying it "again expresses deep disappointment and regret" over senior Japanese officials repeatedly offering ritual gifts or paying visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which "glorifies Japan's past wars of aggression and enshrines war criminals."

The ministry added that it "urges Japan's responsible leaders to face history squarely and demonstrate through action their humble reflection and genuine remorse over the past," stressing that this is "an important foundation for building a future-oriented South Korea-Japan relationship grounded in trust between the two nations and their peoples."

Takaichi offered a "masakaki" — a type of ritual evergreen branch — under the title "Prime Minister of the Cabinet Takaichi Sanae" to mark the shrine's autumn festival.

Yasukuni Shrine is a facility commemorating approximately 2.466 million people who died in Japan's domestic conflicts around the Meiji Restoration and in wars waged by Japan, of whom about 2.133 million are linked to the Pacific War. The shrine also enshrines Class-A war criminals from the Pacific War, including former Prime Minister Tojo Hideki, who was executed following the International Military Tribunal for the Far East — known as the Tokyo Trials — making each visit or ritual offering by Japanese politicians a recurring source of controversy over Japan's wartime past.


kacew@heraldcorp.com