Koizumi to Visit Yasukuni Shrine at 4:30 p.m.

KYODO reports,Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine at 4:30 p.m. Monday, government officials said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. and release a statement by Koizumi on the visit, they said.

Koizumi plans to answer reporters' questions at the shrine shortly after the visit, they said.

It is seen as a compromise gesture to critics of his original plan to visit the shrine on Wednesday, the 56th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.






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