Asia-Pacific

Japan PM indicates will visit shrine next week

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-08-08 19:28

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated on Tuesday he would visit Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine next week to mark the anniversary of Japan's surrender after World War Two in 1945.

Such a pilgrimage to the shrine, where Japanese convicted as war criminals are honored along with the country's 2.5 million war dead, is likely to further harm already tense ties with China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's past aggression persist.

Koizumi promised during his successful campaign to become ruling party chief in 2001 that he would visit Yasukuni, seen by Beijing and Seoul as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, on August 15. He has visited the shrine every year since then, but never on the surrender anniversary.

Asked by reporters on Tuesday if that promise was still valid, Koizumi said: "Yes, it is indeed valid."

When pressed if this meant he would go on August 15, though, he merely reiterated that he would make an "appropriate" decision.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was expected to raise the issue of Yasukuni when he meets Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso later on Tuesday.

China on Monday urged Japan to stop visits by its leaders to Yasukuni, and Ban was expected to make a similar demand.

"We want top Japanese officials to call an immediate halt to visits to Yasukuni, where Class A war criminals are enshrined," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters during a visit to Tokyo on Monday.

Koizumi's annual visits to the shrine have markedly chilled ties with China and South Korea.

Last week, media reports said chief cabinet secretary Shinzo Abe, the front-runner to become Japan's next prime minister when Koizumi steps down in September, had secretly paid his respects at the shrine in April.