South Korea will make a strong protest to Japan if Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi honors a pledge to pray at the Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry warned Sunday.
"There is a high possibility that Koizumi will push ahead with a visit to Yasukuni on Aug. 15 in view of his recent behavior. We will file a strong complaint with Japan, including issuing a statement," a senior official at the ministry said, asking to remain anonymous.
According to Japanese media and other sources, Koizumi will likely make a visit to the shrine to Japan's war dead at 7 a.m. on Tuesday in a private capacity and not as the country's prime minister.
Koizumi has visited the shrine five times since taking office in 2001, but never on Aug. 15., the anniversary of Korea's liberation from 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule as well as Japan's World War II surrender.
South Korea will make it clear that Koizumi's repeated visits to the shrine, an affront to the country, are designed to whitewash Tokyo's history of aggression and militarism in the early 20th century, the official said.
The Foreign Ministry plans to call in Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Shotaro Oshima to file a complaint and is studying other ways to put more pressure on the Japanese government.
Meanwhile, the official dismissed Japanese media reports that said South Korea has proposed to accept only one visit by Japan's next prime minister to the Yasukuni Shrine on condition that it will not be repeated as "nonsensical speculation."
Koizumi is due to step down in September, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is the front-runner for the premiership. Abe made his own secret pilgrimage to the shrine in April.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun will likely comment on the desirable direction of relations between the two neighboring countries in a commemorative speech to be delivered on Tuesday, according to sources.
Roh, who views the Yasukuni Shrine as an icon of Japan's militarism, has refused summit talks with Koizumi over the shrine visits.
In the shrine, ledgers that record the names of 2.5 million war dead, including seven Class-A war criminals, are kept inside the main hall.
Seoul, Aug. 13 (Yonhap News)
S. Korea to protest Japanese PM's visit to Yasukuni Shrine |
