Japan's defense minister draws harsh criticism from Korea and China by visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine,.... where war criminals from World War Two are enshrined.
This comes just a day after the one year anniversary of a bilateral agreement on Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women.
Kwon Soa has more on Tokyo's continued glorification of its wartime aggressions... while displaying lackluster efforts to make ammends.
Calling it "beyond deplorable",... Korea's defense and foreign ministries were quick to respond to Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada's visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday morning.
Both ministries released a statement saying the visit to the controversial site by Inada not only honors war criminals, but also beautifies Tokyo's past colonial infliction and aggression.
It was the minister's first visit to the shrine since she took office in August,... but nonetheless one that added to many other tributes by key Japanese figures to Japan's war dead, including 14 class A war criminals.
According to Korea's government the visit was made in spite of Seoul's emphasis on the need for future-oriented Korea-Japan relations,... that are based on an honest view of history.
"The government once again makes clear that Japan could recover trust from its neighbors and the international society only when its leaders face up to history correctly and carry their self-examination and sincere repentance into action."
Lodging a protest to Inada's visit,... Seoul's defense ministry summoned Hideaki Takahashi, the Japanese military attache in Seoul in the afternoon.
Likewise, the foreign ministry's director-general of the Northeast Asia Affairs Bureau, Chung Byung-won strongly protested against the visit,... summoning Kohei Maruyama.... a minister at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
China's foreign ministry also expressed its deep regret and opposition towards the visit through its spokesperson.
The visit took place just two days after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's highly symbolic visit to Pearl Harbor in the U.S.,... and just one day after the first anniversary of the Seoul-Tokyo landmark agreement on Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women.
"The continuous visits by Japanese officials to the controversial shrine only seem to increase doubts on Tokyo's sincerity towards wartime atrocities,... including their sincerity towards the bilateral deal on the so-called 'comfort women' issue.
South Korea's foreign ministry says that's why these acts are even more "retrogressive".
Kwon Soa, Arirang News."
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