Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe endorsed a 1995 apology by former leader Tomiichi Murayama for the country's aggression in Asia before and during World War II during parliament this week, his spokesman said.

Murayama issued a formal apology on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II on Aug. 15, 1995, in which he stated "feelings of deep remorse" and "feelings of profound mourning" toward all victims involved.

"The prime minister indicated his view on the matter, no more and no less," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said at a regular press conference in Tokyo. "He made clear that as prime minister he will continue" the stance established by Murayama.

In 1995, Murayama stated: "Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war, only to ensnare the Japanese people in a fateful crisis, and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations... [I] express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology."

Abe also said "the last war brought pain to many Japanese and disasters to other Asian countries and has left scars."

"It is a fact that the then leaders had great responsibility," he said.

On the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Abe said "as we accept the ruling of the tribunal (of the Far East) under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan would not object to it in diplomatic relations."


Japan, China are closely related

TOKYO - New Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan and China are closely related and strengthening bilateral political ties is beneficial to regional and global peace.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attends the Lower House Budget Committee in Tokyo October 6, 2006. Abe will visit China on October 8 and South Korea the next day for summits to repair ties frayed by feuds over their wartime past. [Reuters]

Abe made the statement on Thursday during a session of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, stressing the importance of relations with China and South Korea.

Japan's economy is "inseparable" from these bilateral ties, and efforts should be made to build "relations of trust" in economic and other areas, he said.

He said frank exchanges of views, goals and ideals are the first step in building "relations of trust."

Abe, who took office on September 26, will pay an official visit to China on Sunday before flying to Seoul to meet South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Monday.

Relations between Tokyo and its neighbours have deteriorated in recent years because of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which glorifies wartime militarism. Those honoured there include executed war criminals from World War II.

Abe has still not said whether he will visit the war shrine. But he has reportedly been using softer public statements on history to lay the groundwork for the summits.

He told a parliamentary panel on Thursday that wartime leaders, including his cabinet minister grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, had "great responsibility" for starting the war.

Kishi was imprisoned as a war criminal but was never tried and went on to serve as prime minister from 1957 to 1960.

"As a result of starting war, many Japanese lost their lives and families, and we left many scars on the people of Asia," said Abe, who, at 52, is Japan's first premier born after World War II.

"Particularly those people in the position of leader at the time, including my grandfather, had great responsibility."

Abe also referred in parliament this week to a 1995 statement by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama apologizing for the wartime suffering Japan caused in Asia.

And in a nod to an issue highly emotive in South Korea, Abe said he accepted as valid a 1993 Japanese Government statement admitting the Imperial Japanese Army forced thousands of mostly Asian women, many of them Korean, to provide sex for soldiers.

Earlier, US President George Bush said he was encouraged by Abe's planned visits to China and South Korea.

"The United States places utmost importance on close co-operation between its two key allies in East Asia," Japan and South Korea, the White House said in a statement released on Wednesday.

The statement also said co-operation between Japan and China helps in "dealing with the common challenges we face in Asia."