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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 02, 2004

Japanese PM Koizumi visits war criminal shrine

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine on New Year's Day. Koizumi entered the shrine at around 11:30 a.m.(0230 GMT), dressed in the traditional Japanese clothing. The worship lasted some 15 minutes.


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Japanese PM Koizumi visits war criminal shrine
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine on New Year's Day.

Koizumi entered the shrine at around 11:30 a.m.(0230 GMT), dressed in the traditional Japanese clothing. The worship lasted some 15 minutes. There were no other Japanese government officials accompanying the prime minister.

Huang Xingyuan, spokesman of the Chinese Embassy to Tokyo, expressed strong dissatisfaction over Koizumi's visit, urging the Japanese government to completely abide by the three key bilateral agreements and statements and to stop further activities harming the feeling of the Chinese people and Sino-Japanese relations.

This is Koizumi's fourth visit to the controversial shrine since he came to power in 2001.

The Yasukuni shrine honors 14 Class-A World War II criminals along with the 2.47 million Japanese war dead since the mid-19th century.

His previous visits to the shrine drew strong protests from Asian countries that had suffered from military invasions by the Japanese army.

In Japan, opposition parties also criticized Koizumi's visit. "It was an act that emphasizes a personal belief and will damage the national interest. This is irresponsible behavior toward the people," Kyodo News quoted Naoto Kan, head of the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan, as saying.

Tadayoshi Ichida, head of the secretariat of the Japanese Communist Party, said, "Going to worship at Yasukuni Shrine, which is a symbol of a war of aggression and the promotion of militarism,is definitely unacceptable."

"For other Asian countries, it means Japan is continuing not toreflect on its past and criticism will be inevitable," Kyodo quoted Ichida as saying.

Seiji Mataichi, secretary general of the Social Democratic Party, said, "I must say it was inappropriate behavior which failsto see the truth about the invasions," according to Kyodo.

He said that as Japan is seeking cooperation from China and South Korea in solving the nuclear problem of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), such behavior would worsen relations with both countries and was "incomprehensible."

China, the DPRK, South Korea, the United States, Russia and Japan held six-party talks in August in Beijing, seeking peaceful solutions to the DPRK's nuclear development program. The DPRK recently expressed its willingness to attend the second round of nuclear talks early this year.

The DPRK has slammed Koizumi's previous visits to the shrine. Following his worship in January last year, the DPRK said Koizumi's behavior was against the spirit of the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration and the state relations can never be normalized unlessthe crime-woven past of Japan is settled.

By People's Daily Online


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