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The government expressed deep regret over Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro's sudden decision to pay his respects at the Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday, the first day of the new year. It also strongly urged him not to continue such visits in the future.
With civic organizations also voicing strong indignation, Seoul's Foreign Ministry called in Japan's ambassador Doshiyuki Takano to Korea and urged Japan's Premier from making further visits to the controversial shrine.
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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi follows a Shinto priest, dressed in a white and yellow robe, on a surprise visit to the controversial Yasukuni shrine on Thursday./AP
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Foreign Ministry spokesperson Shin Bong-gil expressed deep regret over Koizumi's visit to the Yasakuni Shrine, in which are kept memorial tablets of war criminals "who, through their colonial control and invasions destroyed world peace and were responsible for the unspeakable loss and pain suffered by the citizens." He then "strongly urged" Koizumi not to pray at the shrine again in the future.
This is the first time that the government has directly expressed regret over one of Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine and asked him to discontinue them.
China also made an immediate protest to Koizumi's surprise visit on Thursday. In addition to summoning Tokyo's ambassador in Beijing to convey China's outrage, Beijing's Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Koizumi's obstinate insistence on visiting the Yasukuni Shrine is a clear denial of his previous words of regret over Japan's agression last century.
Koizumi's latest visit is widely viewed as an appeal to conservative voters and lawmakers and is giving rise to concerns over Japan's military ambitions, especially in light of its planned deployment to Iraq the largest troop dispatch overseas since the second World War.
(Kwon Kyong-bok, kkb@chosun.com )
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