South Korea Urges Japanese Leaders to Reflect on Wartime History

Dragon Media News Desk

South Korea on Saturday expressed regret over offerings and visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by senior Japanese officials.

In a statement, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was deeply disappointed that Japanese leaders had repeatedly made offerings or visited the shrine, which Seoul says glorifies Japan’s wars of aggression and honours convicted war criminals.

Seoul urged Japanese leaders to confront history and demonstrate sincere remorse for Japan’s past actions. Such reflection, the ministry said, would help build a forward-looking relationship based on mutual trust between the two countries and their peoples.

Earlier on Saturday, Takaichi sent a ritual offering, a potted tree known as “masakaki,” to mark the shrine’s autumn festival. Some Japanese politicians and lawmakers also visited the shrine and made offerings.

Yasukuni honours about 2.46 million Japanese war dead, including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals from the Second World War, among them wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.