Lawmakers visit Yasukuni; diplomatic dilemma for Abe?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may be trying to mend ties with China and South Korea over historical issues, but that didn't stop 84 lawmakers, excluding Cabinet ministers, from paying a visit Wednesday to Tokyo's contentious Yasukuni Shrine for its annual fall festival.

Lawmakers visit Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo Wednesday for its annual fall festival. KYODO PHOTO

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki meanwhile said the visits, including trips by two senior vice ministers, were "a matter of each person's beliefs about how to deal with the war dead."

Among the 84 lawmakers who visited Yasukuni, 75 were from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, including former Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe. One was from the Democratic Party of Japan. Eriko Yamatani, a special adviser to Abe, also took in the shrine.

Many parts of Asia regard Yasukuni, which enshrines some 2.5 million war dead, as well as 14 Class-A war criminals, as a way for Japan to glorify its wartime aggression.

Visits to the Shinto shrine by Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, strained relations with China and South Korea. The question of how Abe would deal with the issue was one of the main focuses during his summits with the Chinese and South Korean leaders on Oct. 8 and 9.

At the summits, Abe told his counterparts he will continue not to say whether he will visit Yasukuni as prime minister to avoid political and diplomatic friction. He went last April when he was chief Cabinet secretary, but the trip was only revealed by the media recently.

Shiozaki said the government is working to build future-oriented relations with China and South Korea as agreed at the summits, and noted Yasukuni visits by members of the government were made "according to their faith."

He also said Abe's view on the visits was unchanged.

Tsutomu Kawara, a former Defense Agency chief who heads the lawmakers' group that visited the shrine, said the group will continue to call for the prime minister to pay his respects at the shrine.

"There are various problems and it is a difficult . . . for the prime minister to visit, but the group will continue to make the request," Kawara said.