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Koizumi's war shrine visit strongly opposed (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-08-15 08:17 Japanese groups protests against Koizumi's visit
TOKYO -- The Japan-China Friendship Association said on Tuesday that it
strongly protested against Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to
the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine on August 15.
In a statement sent to
Xinhua, the general director of the association, Kyuhei Muraoka, said that they
felt "indignant" over Koizumi's sixth visit to the shrine, where 14 top war
criminals were honored, especially at a time when most Japanese were urging
Koizumi to refrain from such visits.
Koizumi, in total disregard of
international criticism, paid his sixth visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday
morning, the very day that marked the 61st anniversary of Japan's defeat in
World War II.
The statement said most countries hope that Japan and
China can be on friendly terms whereas Koizumi's action is against such wishes.
Koizumi is responsible for the suspension of summit talks with East Asian
leaders and the wreck of mutual trust with neighboring nations, which has been
enhanced by previous premiers.
The association called on the next
cabinet and new prime minister, who was expected to assume the post in
September, not to follow Koizumi's path.
Another Japanese group Nippon
Izokukai, also known as the Japan War-Bereaved Families Association, said
Tuesday that it strongly protested against Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi's visit to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine earlier in the day.
"We
strongly protest against the shrine visit" and "we say NO to the visits to the
Yasukuni Shrine," the group said in a statement. The group, including about
1,500 family members of the Japanese war dead, has been against Koizumi's shrine
visits since his first one in 2001.
The group is scheduled to hold
demonstrations against the shrine visit Tuesday noon.
The Yasukuni
Shrine honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including about 1,000 convicted war
criminals from World War II, 14 of whom were wartime leaders, convicted by an
Allied tribunal as "Class A" war criminals.
The war dead, including war
criminals, honored at the shrine were responsible for the most atrocious crimes
during Japan's war of aggression against its Asian neighbors.
Koizumi's
visits to the shrine have been denounced by countries which suffered Japan's war
of aggression before and during World War II. His previous visits have chilled
Japan's relations with neighboring China and South Korea.
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