Japanese remorse over war welcomed

ASIA paused yesterday to remember Japan’s surrender to the Allied forces which ended World War II 65 years ago, as the Japanese prime minister apologised for wreaking suffering on the region and the South Korean president said Tokyo’s remorse was a step in the right direction.

From Nanjing – the site of a 1937 massacre by Japanese troops – to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which has drawn outrage from Asia for honouring Class A war criminals, people prayed for themillions who died in war and expressed hopes for peace.

In Seoul, President Lee Myung-bak, dressed in traditional robes, led a ceremony celebrating the liberation of the Korean peninsula from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule with the August 15 surrender.