TOKYO, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Saturday visited a shrine to the nation’s war dead, which Asian neighbours see as a symbol of wartime aggression, as Japan marked the 81st anniversary of its surrender in World War Two.
Koizumi, the son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, wore a dark suit and tie as he visited Yasukuni Shrine, local media images showed. He has visited in the past, including as agriculture minister last year.
Kimi Onoda, minister for economic security, also visited on Saturday, according to public broadcaster NHK.
China and South Korea have criticised past visits by senior Japanese officials, saying they gloss over Tokyo’s wartime actions and damage diplomatic ties.
Among the 2.5 million war dead commemorated at the Tokyo shrine are 14 wartime leaders convicted of the most serious war crimes, along with over 1,000 others found guilty by Allied tribunals after Japan’s 1945 defeat. Japanese officials have explained past visits as being in their personal capacity to honour those who died in the nation’s wars.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took up the role last October, sent a ritual offering to the shrine, Kyodo news agency reported.
No sitting Japanese prime minister has visited Yasukuni Shrine since Shinzo Abe in December 2013, when he drew an expression of disappointment from the administration of then-U.S. President Barack Obama.
The last premier to visit on the anniversary of Japan’s surrender was the elder Koizumi, in 2006.
(Reporting by Sam Nussey in Tokyo; Editing by William Mallard)
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