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SKorean FM due in Japan amid shrine row

by Kyoko Hasegawa
Tokyo, Aug 7, 2006
ATTENTION -quote from Chinese official /// South Korea's foreign minister was due late Monday in Japan as his country, along with China, renewed its criticism of visits by Japanese leaders to a controversial war shrine.

Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, who is also a candidate to become UN secretary general, is visiting Japan for the first time in 10 months to attend Tuesday's funeral of former prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.

Ban is scheduled to meet Wednesday with Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the front-runner to be the next premier who was reported last week to have paid a secret pilgrimage in April to the Yasukuni war shrine.

"What's important would be for us to talk, trying to understand each other's views," Abe told reporters.

"I'm looking forward to meeting him even if it is for a short time," he said.

Incumbent Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the shrine have hurt bilateral relations as the site is seen by South Korea and China as a symbol of Japan's militarist past. Both have bitter memories of Japanese occupation.

Koizumi has signalled he may go again to the Yasukuni shrine on August 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II, in a visit sure to inflame tensions with neighboring countries.

Abe has refused to comment on Japanese media reports that he paid a secret pilgrimage there on April 15. South Korea's foreign ministry called the reported visit "very regrettable."

The Yasukuni shrine honors 2.5 million war dead along with 14 top war criminals from World War II.

China and South Korea have refused to hold summits with Koizumi due to his annual pilgrimage.

China said Monday it was open to a visit to Beijing by Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who was set to meet South Korea's Ban on Tuesday. Aso, long known as a hawk, reportedly plans to promise not to visit the shrine when he announces his bid to challenge Abe for the premiership.

But China reiterated its opposition to visits by the premier to the Shinto shrine.

"We are deeply concerned," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on a visit to Tokyo.

"If top Japanese leaders immediately halt the visits and deal with matters with correct historical perceptions, it will conform to interests of the two peoples," Liu said.

"We hope that (Japan's) next prime minister will make efforts to improve relations and we will greatly welcome such efforts," the spokesman added.

Koizumi steps down next month, with his Liberal Democratic Party holding an internal vote on September 20 to determine his successor.

A poll published Monday said most Japanese and South Koreans distrust each other, due both to the Yasukuni issue and a dispute over small islands in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

Some 51 percent of Japanese said they did not trust South Korea, up 17 percentage points from last year, compared with 43 percent who trusted the neighbor.

An overwhelming 89 percent of South Koreans said Japan was untrustworthy, said the poll carried out jointly by Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun daily and South Korea's Hankook Ilbo.

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China open to Japanese FM visit
Tokyo, Aug 7, 2006
China said Monday it was open to a visit by Japan's foreign minister to mend relations but insisted that Japan's premier should stop visiting a controversial war shrine.







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