S.Korea calls for Abe's sincere apology

SEOUL - South Korea on Tuesday called on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to make a sincere apology for Japan's wartime atrocities and aggression in his statement to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The call came a day after Abe said in a Fuji TV interview that "there would be no need" to repeat past apologies made by Japan's former prime ministers as he already upheld the basic thinking of the apologies.

The statements, announced by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1995 and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2005 to mark the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the end of World War II, included the terms such as "heartfelt apology" and "colonial rule and aggression."

Regarding his comments, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il told a press briefing that Abe should not miss "a good opportunity" to make a sincere apology for Japan's wartime misconduct.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the war and the 50th anniversary of normalized diplomatic ties between South Korea and Japan, the spokesman said, noting that the Japanese government should make clear its perception of history by taking this opportunity.

Noh said that the South Korean government has paid attention to Abe's stance that he would inherit the history perception from the Murayama statement.

Earlier in the day, Abe made a ritual offering to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, where about 2.4 million Japanese war dead, including 14 Class-A war criminals, are enshrined. Abe has made such controversial offerings during the spring festival, infuriating the victim states of Japan's past aggression such as South Korea and China.

The spokesman said that Japan's political leaders did an act of denying the post-WW international order, into which Japan was allowed to enter, by paying tribute to the shrine where Class-A war criminals are honored.

Abe angered South Korea and China by making a pilgrimage to the shrine in December 2013, only one year after his return to power.