'Concern' Over Visit Expressed to Japan

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'Concern' Over Visit Expressed to Japan

The South Korean government officially expressed to the Japanese government its "concern" over the announcement that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan would pay an official visit in August to Yasukuni shrine, where Japan's war dead, including some convicted war criminals, are honored.

Choo Kyu-ho, director-general of the Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, summoned the first minister at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul and asked it to "prudently deal with the issue."

It is the first time that the government has expressed its official concern so far ahead of the visit. "Because Yasukuni shrine is a symbolic place where memorials to war criminals stand," a government official explained, "we felt the need to convey our government's strong opposition in advance."

Yasukuni shrine is a collective memorial to about 2.5 million soldiers and civilians attached to the military who died in wars from the Meiji restoration in 1868 to World War II. Fourteen so-called "class-A" war criminals, who were convicted and executed, and 1,000 or so class-B and C war criminals are among those enshrined.

The South Korean government deems the visit as damaging to the building of a new partnership between South Korea and Japan in the 21st century.

Some Japanese prime ministers have in the past visited the shrine. But none has so openly declared his intention in advance.



by Ahn Sung-kyoo

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