Abe plans to skip Yasukuni visit

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe does not plan to visit the Yasukuni Shrine ahead of a state visit to Tokyo by U.S. President Barack Obama scheduled for April 24.

Experts said this doesn’t mean that Abe has changed his revisionist stance but is instead aiming to avoid conflict with Korea and China during Obama’s visit.

Sources close to the right-wing prime minister were quoted by Japan’s Kyodo News Agency as saying, “Abe will not visit the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine during the spring festival,” that runs from April 21 to 23.

The Prime Minister will make a ritual offering of a “masakaki” tree, as he did during last year’s spring festival, said the sources.

In December, Washington issued a statement saying it was “disappointed” about Abe’s visit to the controversial shrine, the first visit in seven years by a Japanese prime minister.

Tokyo’s relations with Seoul and Beijing soured after Abe paid his respects at the shrine that honors Japan’s war dead, but also houses the remains of 14 Class-A war criminals.

It also drew Korea and China closer to condemn Japan for denying its imperialistic misdeeds, which it is using as an excuse to boost defense spending.

The U.S. is particularly anxious about ties between South Korea and Japan, which are pivotal to containing China. Washington also wants to see the two allies cooperate in deterring North Korea’s provocations.

Meanwhile, Korea and China criticized Shindo Yoshitaka, Japan’s internal affairs minister, Saturday, for visiting Yasakuni.

“The international community is critical of and worries about remarks by Japanese politicians and their actions,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.

“The Japanese cabinet member’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine constitutes a grave challenge to the neighboring countries that suffered from Japan’s past imperialism as well as to the international community.”

Japanese politicians should make efforts to mend Korea-Japan ties through humble retrospection on their country’s history, the ministry said.

“Once again this shows the mistaken attitude of the current Japanese cabinet toward history,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, adding that China has lodged a formal protest with Japan.

Shindo paid his respects at the Yasukuni Shrine during a local memorial ceremony there.

Japan’s Asian neighbors, especially Korea and China, who suffered under imperial invasions before and during World War II, view the shrine as a symbol of Tokyo’s past imperialism. By Chung Min-uck The korea times