Tensions over Koizumi visit to controversial war shrine

REGIONAL tensions rose amid speculation that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi would visit a shrine for war dead tomorrow, on the anniversary of Tokyo’s World War Two surrender, which is seen by critics as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism.

China and the two Koreas, where bitter memories of Japan’s aggression runs deep, were expected to react with outrage to the visit to Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals are honoured with the country’s 2.5 million war dead.

“If Japan continues acts of provocation and tries to glorify its war of aggression in the face of repeated protests by South Korea and other neighbouring countries, then it must not be overlooked,” Kim Han-gill, a senior lawmaker of South Korea’s ruling Uri Party said yesterday.