[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Sanae Takaichi, Chairperson of the Policy Research Council of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), visited Yasukuni Shrine, where Class A war criminals from the Pacific War are enshrined, on the 18th, according to Kyodo News.
According to the report, Chairperson Takaichi ran as a candidate in last month's LDP presidential election and was supported by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
After being elected LDP president, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida appointed Takaichi as Chairperson of the Policy Research Council, one of the party's key positions, in consideration of former Prime Minister Abe.
With strong right-wing tendencies, Takaichi has visited Yasukuni Shrine annually on the Pacific War's end date (August 15) and during the spring and autumn grand memorial services.
The period from the 17th to 18th of this month was the autumn grand memorial service at Yasukuni Shrine, and it appears that Chairperson Takaichi visited accordingly.
Prime Minister Kishida did not visit Yasukuni Shrine in person the previous day but offered a ritual offering.
Former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who only offered ritual offerings during his tenure, visited Yasukuni Shrine in person on the same day.
Yasukuni Shrine, located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, is a facility that honors the spirits of approximately 2,466,000 people who died in civil wars after the Meiji Restoration and numerous wars initiated by Imperial Japan.
Of these, nearly 90%, about 2,133,000 spirits, are related to the Pacific War (December 1941 to August 1945), which Imperial Japan called the "Greater East Asia War."
After Japan's defeat, 14 Class A war criminals who led the Pacific War, including former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who was executed following the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal (International Military Tribunal for the Far East), and former Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso (1880?1950), a former Governor-General of Korea who died in prison after being sentenced to life imprisonment, were enshrined at Yasukuni in 1978 through a joint enshrinement ceremony.
Because of this, Yasukuni Shrine is regarded as a "sanctuary" by Japan's right-wing camp but is perceived by neighboring countries such as Korea and China, which suffered under Japanese imperial aggression, as a "war shrine" that enshrines the spirits of war criminals.
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