The Hindu : Protests over Koizumi visit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 22, 2002

International

International

Protests over Koizumi visit

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE: A second visit by Japan's Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi , to the Yasukuni shrine, a memorial to World War II Japanese war criminals, has drawn sharp protests from neighbours South Korea and China. Mr. Koizumi, whose first visit was on August 13 last year, had broken with tradition by visiting the Tokyo shrine, which honours 14 `Class-A' war criminals along with some 2.47 million Japanese who died in the war. ``The purpose of my visit was to sincerely mourn those who gave their lives to the country during the course of our country's history since the (1868) Meiji Restoration,'' the Prime Minister was quoted as telling reporters in Tokyo on Sunday. The visit comes at a particularly inopportune time given the fact that Japan and South Korea are to co-host the football World Cup next month. It also comes amid plummeting public ratings for Mr. Koizumi, who has been faulted for firing Ms. Makiko Tanaka as Foreign Minister and a string of corruption scandals plaguing his party. For its part, China voiced "strong dissatisfaction'' at the visit. Separately, a South Korean statement expressed "deep regret''.

Mr. Koizumi said China and South Korea did not need to feel anxious about a rise of nationalism in Japan.

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