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Japan's Koizumi to visit war shrine on Monday
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-17 09:00
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi plans to make a controversial visit
to the Yasukuni war shrine on Monday, a spokesman said.
Doves fly past the
entrance to the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, which honours Japanese war dead
including some infamous war criminals. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
plans to make a controversial visit to the shrine on Monday, a spokesman
said.[AFP/File] |
"The prime minister is going
to make a visit shortly after 10:00 am (0100 GMT)," Yu Kameoka, a Koizumi
spokesman, told AFP.
Kameoka declined to comment on what kind of reaction Tokyo expected from
Asian neighbors China and South Korea, which Japan occupied in the first half of
the 20th century and see the shrine as a symbol of Japan's militarism.
Since taking office in 2001, Koizumi has kept his pledge to pray annually at
Yasukuni, which honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead including 14 top convicted
war criminals.
The Osaka High Court ruled on September 30 that his visits to Yasukuni were
unconstitutional as they defied the separation of politics and religion.
Koizumi disagreed with the ruling, saying he was not making his pilgrimages
as part of the prime minister's official duties but to express his personal
grief over people killed in war.
The prime minister is riding high after scoring a runaway victory in the
September general elections, which spawned calls for him to stay in power beyond
the self-imposed limit of September 2006.
Koizumi has said there is no change in his plan to step down in September
2006 when his term as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party expires.
But an opinion poll published by Jiji Press showed nearly 55 percent
supported an extension of his term.
Jiji carried out the poll from October 7 to October 10, covering 2,000
eligible voters.
Japan's Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Friday he plans to visit
China soon in an effort to improve relations, which have soured in part over
Koizumi's Yasukuni visits.
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