Korea's Foreign Ministry expresses 'deep regret' over Japanese prime minister's offering to Yasukuni Shrine

Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “deep regret” on Tuesday over Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ritual offering on Monday to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine, where Class-A war criminals from the Pacific War are enshrined.

A wooden plaque showing the name of Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is seen with a ″masakaki″ tree that he sent as an offering to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine on the first day of the Spring Festival in Tokyo on April 21. [AFP/YONHAP]

Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “deep regret” on Tuesday over Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ritual offering on Monday to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine, where Class-A war criminals from the Pacific War are enshrined.

“The Korean government expresses deep disappointment and regret over the fact that responsible Japanese leaders have once again offered ritual offerings or repeatedly visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which glorifies Japan’s past wars of aggression and enshrines war criminals,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said in a statement released Tuesday.

Ishiba presented a masakaki, a sacred offering of evergreens, to mark the start of the shrine’s spring festival, under the title “Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba” on Monday, according to Kyodo News.

Ishiba did not visit the shrine in person, following the same approach he took during last October’s autumn festival, when he also refrained from visiting the site and only made an offering.

Kyodo News reported that “he appears to have made this decision in consideration of opposition from China and South Korea,” adding that “attention is now on how other cabinet ministers will respond.”

“The Korean government urges responsible Japanese leaders to face history and demonstrate humble reflection and genuine introspection on the past through action,” the Foreign Ministry's statement added. “This is an important foundation for building a future-oriented Korea-Japan relationship based on trust between the two countries.”

The last time a sitting Japanese prime minister visited Yasukuni Shrine in person was in 2013, when then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid a visit.

Yasukuni Shrine honors the spirits of some 2.46 million individuals who died in various conflicts beginning with Japan’s Meiji Restoration, including approximately 2.13 million connected to the Pacific War.

Among them are 14 Class-A war criminals convicted in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.

BY LEE HAY-JUNE, LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]