Enlarge imageBy Teruaki Ueno and Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid his respects at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine for war dead on Tuesday, the anniversary of his country’s World War Two surrender, defying warnings from China and South Korea not to go.
The parting shot by the outgoing Japanese leader prompted angry protests from Beijing and Seoul, although Koizumi denied his pilgrimage had been intended to glorify war.
Koizumi is set to step down in September, and China in particular appears to be counting on his heir apparent, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, to help repair ties.
On Tuesday, Abe called for diplomatic dialogue, but declined to say whether he would visit the shrine if he became premier.
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The Shinto shrine honours Japanese World War Two leaders convicted as war criminals along with 2.5 million war dead and is considered a symbol of Japan’s past militarism in the two Asian countries, which bore the brunt of Japanese aggression.
Koizumi, wearing a morning suit and looking solemn as he followed behind a Shinto priest clad in traditional robes, bowed before entering the inner shrine as a steady rain fell. The visit, carried live on Japanese TV, was over in minutes.
The pilgrimage was the first by a Japanese prime minister on the August 15 anniversary since Yasuhiro Nakasone went there on the emotive date in 1985, setting off howls of protest in China.
Tokyo’s ties with Beijing and Seoul are already at their worst in decades, partly because of Koizumi’s annual pilgrimages.
On Tuesday China said Koizumi’s shrine visits were "wrecking the political foundations of China-Japan relations" and summoned Japan’s ambassador to register its protest.
Several dozen protesters gathered at the Japanese embassy in Beijing and called for a boycott of Japanese goods, but there was no sign of the sort of large and sometimes violent street protests which swept Chinese cities last year.
South Korea, which on Tuesday celebrated the anniversary of its liberation from Japanese colonial rule, was similarly harsh.
"The Japanese prime minister’s visit to the Yasukuni shrine is a total disrespect for the Korean government and people, particularly on our independence day and the day of the end (of) World War Two," South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told reporters in the Australian capital, Canberra.
Experts say Washington is also worried about Japan’s deteriorating ties with China and South Korea.
FACING THE PAST
Later, Koizumi and Emperor Akihito -- son of the late Emperor Hirohito, in whose name the war was fought -- attended a national memorial service in honour of Japan’s war dead.
"Our country inflicted great loss and suffering on the peoples of many countries, especially Asian countries.
"On behalf of the Japanese people, I would like to express deep remorse and humbly express condolences for the victims," Koizumi said, standing in front of a stark altar behind which were Japan’s national flag and banks of chrysanthemums.
Koizumi defended his decision to visit Yasukuni shrine on the symbolic day and criticised Beijing and Seoul for refusing to hold bilateral summits because of the feud over the shrine.
"I do not go to justify the past war or to glorify militarism," he told reporters. "I go with the feeling that we should not wage war again and that we must not forget the sacrifice of those who went to war and died."
Critics argue Koizumi’s visits reflect Japan’s failure to face up to its wartime past, including atrocities in Asia.
The shrine, which played a central role in the wartime state religion that helped mobilise the nation to fight in the name of a divine emperor, considers 14 wartime leaders convicted by an Allied tribunal as Class A war criminals to be "martyrs".
Koizumi, 64, has visited the shrine every year since he took office in 2001 but until Tuesday never on August 15, despite a campaign promise to do so.
Elderly veterans and ordinary Japanese mingled with nationalist shrine supporters, including youth clad in military garb, to bow their heads for a moment of silence at noon.
Right-wingers attacked a van carrying opponents of the shrine visit, throwing rocks and chasing it away before riot police moved in. Across the street, about 100 protesters carrying signs saying "Down with Koizumi, Down with Yasukuni" banged on drums and chanted anti-shrine slogans.
Japanese public opinion is divided on whether the prime minister should make pilgrimages to Yasukuni.
Many Japanese business leaders, concerned the diplomatic chill could hurt vital economic ties with booming China, have made clear they want the next prime minister to halt the visits.
Abe, 51, has defended the pilgrimages and went there this time last year. Media say he also paid a secret visit in April.
On Tuesday, Abe, a security hawk known for his tough stance towards China and North Korea, said final judgement on who bore the heaviest responsibility for the war should be left to history.
(Additional reporting by Linda Sieg, Elaine Lies and Chikako Endo in Tokyo, Chris Buckley in Beijing, Jack Kim in Seoul and James Grubel in Canberra)
