Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe visits Yasukuni Shrine for war dead

Mr Shinzo Abe announced his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on his official Twitter account, along with a photo of himself at the site. The shrine is seen by Beijing and Seoul as a symbol of Japan's past military aggression because it honours, among others, 14 Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal. PHOTO: TWITTER ACCOUNT OF SHINZO ABE

TOKYO • Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe yesterday visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, his first visit since December 2013, after refraining from doing so for most of his term to avoid angering China and South Korea.

Mr Abe announced the visit on his official Twitter account, along with a photo of himself at the shrine, just days after he was succeeded as prime minister by Mr Yoshihide Suga.

Japan's longest-serving leader announced his resignation in late August, citing health problems.

The shrine is seen by Beijing and Seoul as a symbol of Japan's past military aggression because it honours, besides those who died in wars, 14 Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal.

Mr Abe had visited the shrine in person once during his last tenure as prime minister but regularly sent offerings via an aide on the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II and during the shrine's spring and autumn festivals.

His visit to the shrine in 2013 sparked outrage across South Korea and China and an expression of "disappointment" from the United States.

Yesterday, South Korea's foreign ministry released a statement expressing "deep concern and regret" that Mr Abe had paid respect at the shrine "immediately" after his resignation as prime minister.

Mr Suga, who was the chief government spokesman in Mr Abe's administration, was not among the Abe Cabinet ministers who visited the shrine this year on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II on Aug 15.

Mr Suga had made a visit to the shrine in August 2011, according to a post on his official blog, well before becoming the Abe government's chief Cabinet secretary in December 2012.

Washington and Tokyo have become close security allies in the decades since the war's end but its legacy has left scars in East Asia.

Relations between Tokyo and Seoul have remained strained due to bitter memories of Japan's 1910-1945 colonisation of the Korean peninsula, including a dispute over compensation for Koreans forced to work on Japan's sites during the war.

Tokyo says the matter was settled by a 1965 treaty normalising bilateral relations.

REUTERS

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on September 20, 2020, with the headline Former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe visits Yasukuni Shrine for war dead. Subscribe