뉴스레터

The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose retrogressive remarks on history had caused troubles all year last year, upset the international community by visiting Yasukuni Shrine on December 26 last year. Abe was present at the 44th annual meeting of the World Economy Forum (WEF, also known as the Davos Forum) held in Davos, Switzerland on January 22 this year, and said in an interview with the international media that "(visiting Yasukuni Shrine) is not to honor the so-called "Class-A war criminals," denying the accusation that his visit was to justify the Class-A war criminals. Who exactly are the Class-A war criminals enshrined in Yasukuni Shrine? How are the Class-A war criminals related to Korea? Even if they were separately enshrined, Yasukuni Shrine would be still problematic. Why is that?

Q : Who exactly are the Class-A criminals enshrined in Yasukuni Shrine?

After winning the war against Japan, the Allies convened the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) (Tokyo Trial) to try the leaders of the Japanese government, Army, and Navy who formulated and executed the plans to wage wars of aggression. Article 5 of the Tokyo Trial law divided war crimes into three types: 1) Class A 'crimes against peace' (planning or conspiracy, preparation, initiation, or waging of wars of aggression); 2) Class B 'conventional war crimes' (violation of the laws or customs of war); and 3) Class C 'crimes against humanity' (murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts). These three types (A, B, C) are according to the nature, not the gravity, of crimes. While the Tokyo Trial was focused on trying those who committed 'crimes against peace (Class A)' (reason for 36 of 55 charges), it also tried those who committed atrocities ['conventional war crimes (Class B)' and 'crimes against humanity (Class C)'] (See Table 1). Of the twenty-eight people charged at the Tokyo Trial, twenty-five were convicted (two died of disease and one was acquitted). In October 1978, Yasukuni Shrine enshrined together a total of 14 war criminals (seven who were hanged, including Hideki Tojo, five who died of disease, and two died of disease during trial).¹⁾

Q : How are the Class-A war criminals related to Korea?

The Class-A war criminals were convicted at the Tokyo Trial in relation to the wars of aggression from 1928 onward. However, they were not tried for forced mobilization or atrocities committed in Japan's colonies. Of those convicted, there were three people who also committed high crimes against Korea: Minami Jiro (南次郞) and Koiso Kuniaki (小磯国昭), Governors-General of Korea who are responsible for the drafting and enforcement of the policy of pressuring Koreans under Japanese rule to adopt Japanese names, as part of Japanization policy, and the policy of forcibly mobilizing Koreans under Japanese rule (e.g. draft into the military or labor); and Seishiro Itagaki (板垣征四郎), who was commander of the Chosen Army. And two of them, Koiso, who died in prison, and Itagaki, who was hanged, are enshrined together at Yasukuni. (Minami was not included in the enshrinement because he was released on parole in 1954 and died in 1955.)

Korea had special interest in the trial of these three war criminals from the beginning of the Tokyo Trial. Korea was feeling that it should get involved in the issue of these three war criminals, as clearly indicated in media reports at that time. Take for example the Dong-A Ilbo headlines: "Main Culprits of Invasion Brought to Justice; Tojo and Six Others Sentenced to Be Hanged at Tokyo Trial // Koiso, Kuniaki, Minami Jiro Sentenced to Life Imprisonment (Including the Three Related to Korea)"(Nov. 14, 1948); and "Korea Demands Severe Punishment on Koiso and Minami Among Other War Criminals"(Nov. 30, 1948), and the Freedom Press op-ed "The Punishment of Minami Jiro and Koiso Kuniaki"(Nov. 15, 1948).

Q : Why is the enshrinement of the Class-A war criminals problematic?

The Class-A war criminals were convicted at the Tokyo Trial of the crime of leading wars of aggression. And Japan was restored to the international community by accepting the Tokyo Trial's decision under the San Francisco Peace Treaty (Article 11). If prime minister or any government official visits the place where Class-A criminals are enshrined as deities, it would be like glorifying the wars of aggression and denying the condition on which Japan was restored to the international community and the international order was built. For example, in May 1985, the then U.S. President Ronald Reagan was condemned for visiting the Bitburg Military Cemetery in Germany where members of the Waffen-SS were buried. This case illustrates that the international community does not approve of state leaders visiting facilities that include the graves of war criminals of the Second World War.

Also, Yasukuni Shrine justifies the deaths of Japanese soldiers and MPs who were killed while persecuting militias during Japan's aggression of the Korean Peninsula, on the grounds that they "were killed while suppressing rioters." Despite the strong opposition of their families, about 21,000 Koreans who were forcibly mobilized to war by Japan and killed are also enshrined together, on the ludicrous grounds that "they were killed fighting for Japan." By visiting such facilities to express his gratitude and respect, the Japanese Prime Minister is denying the 1995 statement in which the then Prime Minister Murayama "expressed his apology and remorse for the tremendous damage and suffering caused by Japan's aggression and colonial rule."

Q : As a solution to the Yasukuni controversy, the separate enshrinement of the Class-A war criminals has been suggested. Can the separate enshrinement be a solution?

When the then Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone paid an official visit to Yasukuni on August 15, 1985, China strongly condemned the visit on the grounds that the Class-A war criminals were enshrined there. Since then, many Japanese politicians have proposed "separating the Class-A war criminals from Yasukuni Shrine" as a solution to the Yasukuni controversy. This proposal was made again on January 4 this year by the former foreign minister Seiji Maehara of the Democratic Party of Japan. Some of the Korean press also mention, incorrectly, the separate enshrinement of the Class-A war criminals as if it was a solution to the Yasukuni controversy, on the basis of the incorrect knowledge that the tablets or remains of the Class-A war criminals are enshrined in Yasukuni.

At Yasukuni, 1) there are neither tablets nor remains; 2) in the Main Shrine, there are mirrors and swords symbolizing 2.46 million people enshrined together; and 2) the Repository for the Symbolic Registers of Divinities houses the Symbolic Registers of Souls, lists of the names of all those enshrined together. It is debatable whether the Shinto doctrine allows separate enshrinement. But in their official view announced on Mar. 3, 2004, the Yasukuni authorities argued that the doctrine would forbid separate enshrinement if it meant completely separating only the Class-A war criminals. In reality, therefore, the separate enshrinement of the Class-A war criminals would be difficult. More importantly, even if the enshrinement is done, that doesn't change at all the nature of Yasukuni Shrine being a facility that justifies Japan's wars of aggression. Furthermore, the separate enshrinement of the Class-A war criminals doesn't help solve the issue of the Koreans (about 21,000 of them) who were enshrined without consent of their families.

1. As leaders, organisers, instigators, or accomplices in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to wage wars of aggression
27. Waging unprovoked war against China
29. Waging aggressive war against the United States
31. Waging aggressive war against the British Commonwealth
32. Waging aggressive war against the Netherlands
33. Waging aggressive war against France
35. Waging aggressive war against the USSR (Battle of Lake Khasan)
36. Waging aggressive war against the USSR (Battle of Khalkhin Gol)
54. Ordered, authorized, and permitted inhumane treatment of prisoners of war and others
55. Deliberately and recklessly disregarded their duty to take adequate steps to prevent atrocities

¹⁾ "Enshrining together" as used in the terminology of Japan's Shinto (神道) means enshrining multiple deities in a single shrine.