S. Korean gov't denounces Koizumi's shrine visit |
South Korea said Tuesday it was deeply disappointed and angered by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's latest visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead including war criminals.
The Foreign Ministry said in a spokesman's statement that the visit would strain South Korean-Japanese relations and obstruct regional cooperation and friendship in Northeast Asia.
"The South Korean government regrets that Prime Minister Koizumi paid a visit to Yasukuni Shrine despite repeated concerns and opposition from the international community. We sternly note that such a nationalistic attitude has worsened South Korean-Japanese relations and disturbed Northeast Asia's regional cooperation and friendship," said the statement.
"Japan will have to build confidence with neighbors if it is really willing to contribute to regional peace and prosperity and play a responsible role in international society," it said.
This position was repeated by Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan who told Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Shotaro Oshima that Koizumi's visit was very regrettable since it was made despite repeated requests by Seoul.
"We ask that you convey the grave position of the Korean government to your government," he told the envoy who was summoned to the Foreign Ministry building in central Seoul.
In Tokyo, South Korean Ambassador Ra Jong-yil met Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi and conveyed Seoul's concerns and protest against the shrine visit.
"Yasukuni Shrine is a place where war criminals, who inflicted indescribable pain on neighboring countries, were buried," Ra said.
"Paying a visit to such a place on Aug. 15 is a behavior that seriously offends the feeling of our people. Our government and people are deeply disappointed and angered."
Earlier in the day, Koizumi visited the shrine in Tokyo, defying repeated warnings from Seoul, Beijing and other regional countries victimized by Japan's war of aggression in the early parts of the past century.
Koizumi had visited the shrine five times since taking office in 2001, but the latest trip was the first time he went there on Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
Yasuhiro Nakasone is the only other Japanese prime minister to visit the controversial shrine on Aug. 15. He paid the visit in 1985.
Aug. 15 is also celebrated in Korea as Liberation Day.
South Korea, China and other countries oppose the shrine, which honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead including executed war criminals, as they consider it a glorification of Japan's past militarism.
South Korea's leading politicians expressed displeasure with the shrine visit.
"It is tantamount to an outright provocation against not just peace-loving people but also the whole East Asian people," said Rep. Kim Geun-tae, chairman of the ruling Uri Party. "It also signifies an ultimatum for Japan's discord with neighboring countries."
Kang Jae-sup, chairman of the main opposition Grand National Party, joined the criticism, calling Koizumi's shrine visit a behavior that will raise tension in Northeast Asia and will eventually backfire by causing its isolation from the international community.
Lee Oak-sun, a spokesperson for the House of Sharing, an organization dedicated to helping so-called comfort women, said the visit was unpardonable.
"Koizumi never really apologized for crimes committed by Japan and is not someone who listens to reason," she claimed.
Comfort women is a euphemism used to describe women from countries colonized by Japan who were compelled to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese military during World War II.
Hong Young-sook, chairman of the Association for the Pacific War Victims, a group supporting those forced into labor for Japan during the war, said the visit by the prime minister was a gesture mocking Japan's neighbors that deserves a stern response.
"The only way Japan can become a true member of the international community is to atone for its past behavior," Hong said.
Seoul, Aug. 15 (Yonhap News)
