Asia-Pacific

Kyodo: Japan PM says should keep Yasukuni pledge

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-08-09 11:03

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters on Wednesday that he thought should keep his pledge to visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead on the August 15 anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War Two, Kyodo news agency reported.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi carries a wreath during the 61st anniversary of the atomic bombing in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006. [AP]

A pilgrimage by the Japanese premier to the shrine, where Japanese World War Two leaders convicted as war criminals are honoured with the country's 2.5 million war dead, would likely further chill already tense ties with China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's past aggression persist.

Koizumi promised during his successful campaign to become ruling party chief in 2001 that he would visit Yasukuni, seen by Beijing and Seoul as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, on August 15. He has visited the shrine every year since then, but never on the anniversary.