뉴스레터

Q

Three cabinet members of Japan, including Deputy Prime Minister Tara Aso, and as many as 168 Diet members paid a visit to Yasukuni Shrine during its Annual Spring Festival (April 21-23). And Shinzo Abe sent a tribute to the shrine in the name of Prime Minister of Japan. While these Japanese politicians' actions were provocative enough to have prompted South Korea's Foreign Minister to cancel the planned visit to Japan and talks with his Japanese counterpart. the Japanese government is defending them. Tokyo's position is that there is nothing wrong with political leaders respecting and honoring those who gave their lives for their country and that Japan will try to help their neighboring countries understand this. Let us examine what is at the heart of the controversy surrounding Japanese politicians' visits to Yasukuni Shrine that has been rekindled since Abe took office as Prime Minster.

A

Why is it so controversial that the spirits of the Class-A war criminals are enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine?

During his visit to the U.S. this February, Abe paid a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, as if to defend his visits to Yasukuni Shrine. But if he thinks visiting Yasukuni Shrine is okay, can he invite US President Obama to accompany him there? I doubt it because he knows that fourteen Class-A war criminals are also enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine. The Class-A war criminals refer to those who had initiated the war of aggression and were found guilty at the Tokyo Trial based on the Potsdam Declaration. Japan accepted this decision of the Tokyo Trial under the San Francisco Peace Treaty (Article 11), and was restored to the international community. Therefore, the Prime Minister's or any cabinet member's visit to the place where the spirits of the Class-A war criminals are enshrined is equivalent to an attempt to justify the war of aggression and deny the condition on which Japan was restored to the international community.

In 1985, U.S. President Ronald Ragan’s planned visit to the Bitburg Military Cemetery drew fire because the cemetery contained the graves of members of the Waffen-SS. This is a case in point that a head of state's visit to a facility that includes the graves of war criminals is not tolerated in the international community, although Abe might want to believe otherwise.

At Yasukuni Shrine, the spirits of Koreans forced into the military are also enshrined. How did this come about?

At Yasukuni Shrine, the spirits of Japanese soldiers and military police officers killed in the line of duty are enshrined. Their duty consisted of suppressing a mob, although the mob was actually the Korean army that rose against Japan's aggression in the Korean peninsula. Ironically, the spirits of about 21,000 Koreans who were conscripted by Japan and died in the war are also enshrined among those Japanese, despite the opposition of their bereaved families, because they are considered to have died fighting for Japan. By visiting such a facility to express gratitude or honor, the Japanese Prime Minister or cabinet member would be denying Japan's history of aggression in the Korean peninsula and turning a blind eye to the damage and suffering caused by the colonial rule.

In 1995, through the Murayama Statement, the Japanese government acknowledged that Japan's aggression and colonial rule had caused tremendous damage and suffering to the neighboring countries, and expressed its apology and remorse. Even Abe is not denying the Murayama Statement, at least officially. The Koreans enshrined at Yasukuni are the epitome of the tremendous damage and suffering that Murayama was talking about. Therefore, by expressing gratitude and honor at Yasukuni, the Japanese Prime Minister or cabinet member would be denying the Japanese government's official position expressed in the Murayama Statement and causing additional damage to the Korean victims and their bereaved families. It is not their expression of gratitude and honor that is needed by the Korean victims who are enshrined at Yasukuni against their will. It is their heartfelt apology and remorse.

Japan's rightward shift since Abe took office is coming under increasing criticism. Under the circumstances, will the cabinet members of Japan visit Yasukuni Shrine again on the coming 15th day of August?

Even though there are no specific dates designated for visits, Yasukuni Shrine usually receives visits from the Prime Minister and Cabinet and Diet members during its Spring Festival (April 21-23), on the 15th day of August, and during its Autumn Festival (October 17-20). On the 15th day of August, in particular, cabinet members have visited the shrine every year, except for 2011 and 2012 while the DPJ was in power. Even though the neighboring nations are concerned, it is likely that cabinet members will visit the shrine on the coming 15th of August because the Prime Minister is saying in their defense that they have the freedom not to yield to any threat.

The former Japanese Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro stopped making an official visit to Yasukuni Shrine in 1986 after his official visit to Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, 1985 became an international controversy. And he wrote to the Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang asking for his understanding. Hoping that Abe will make a wise decision as a politician, I conclude by quoting a portion of Nakasone's letter:

"Forty years have passed since the end of the war, but the peoples of Japan's neighboring countries in Asia are still deeply wounded in their hearts because of the tragic history. To avoid hurting the feelings of the people of your country as well as others across Asia by making an official visit to Yasukuni Shrine where certain leaders responsible for the war of aggression are enshrined, I have made a decisive political decision not to make an official visit to Yasukuni Shrine this year. It is my firm belief that giving consideration to the national sentiment of the people of countries around the world as well as of one's own is the basic principle of wise behavior to be followed by a politician if he is to build international relations marked by peace and friendship, equity and reciprocity, mutual trust, and long-term stability."