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In an unprecedented gesture, Japanese Emperor Akihito paid tribute to the thousands of war dead, including Koreans, on the Pacific island of Saipan, which was a key battlefield during World War II.
For the first time, Japanese Emperor Akihito paid tribute to Koreans killed during World War II in Saipan. Tens of thousands of lives were lost on the Pacific island, where one of the fiercest World War Two battles between the U.S. and Japan took place.
Hundreds of Koreans forced into military service during Japan's colonial rule over the peninsula also lost their lives there. With Empress Michiko, Japan's Emperor offered prayers and flowers at memorials around the island. The visit comes amid rising anti-Japanese sentiment in Asia.
Korea and China especially want the Japanese to do more in recognizing its wartime atrocities and set history records straight. A survey by Japan's daily newspaper, "Asahi Shimbun," alarmingly reports that among the near 1,900 respondents, 38 percent said they knew little or very little about World War II.
Even so, more than half of the Japanese surveyed opposed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's controversial visits to a shrine honoring the war dead, including class-A war criminals. They said he should stop the visits to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo mainly "out of consideration" for Japan's Asian neighbors like Korea and China.
A dwindling number of Japanese are supporting his shrine visits now, 36 percent, down from 39 percent in May.
Arirang News
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