A blue sheet obscures the stone pillar which bears the identify of the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, August 19, 2024. /VCG
Japanese peace advocates and South Korean lawmakers expressed robust opposition and remorse on Saturday over a financial providing and visits by Japanese politicians to Yasukuni Shrine, an emblem of Japanese militarism and wartime aggression, on the 81st anniversary of Japan’s unconditional give up in World War II.
Atsushi Kouketsu, an emeritus professor at Yamaguchi University, informed Xinhua that Yasukuni Shrine is “a shrine of aggression” and a breeding floor for militarist ideology.
He stated Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who has visited the shrine on a number of events previously, despatched a harmful political sign by making the ritual providing as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), signaling the ruling institution’s endorsement of the ideological roots of Japan’s previous wars of aggression.
This displays an extra rightward shift in Japanese politics that warrants a excessive degree of vigilance, Kouketsu stated.
Visits by Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and different politicians to Yasukuni Shrine, which glorifies Japan’s wars of aggression, desecrate the reminiscence of those that died within the battle, the Aichi Prefectural Peace Committee said. The committee urged Japanese political leaders to resist Japan’s accountability for its wartime aggression.
In South Korea, Jeon Su-mi, a spokesperson for the ruling Democratic Party, criticized the visits by Japanese officers and LDP lawmakers as an “anachronistic provocation,” calling them “reckless acts” primarily based on “twisted patriotism,” Yonhap reported.
Kim Dae-sik of the principle opposition People Power Party, who is understood for his shut ties with Japan, voiced “deep regret,” saying Koizumi’s shrine go to is an act that undermines mutual belief between the 2 international locations.
“Japan’s responsible leaders should face the history of its aggression and show true remorse through actions, not words,” Kim wrote on Facebook.
(With enter from companies)
Source: CGTN