Koizumi's war shrine visit angers Asian neighbors

Koizumi's war shrine visit angers Asian neighbors

SEOUL (AFP): South Korea and China condemned Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday after his visit to a Tokyo war shrine which prompted 20 Korean men to chop off the tips of their little fingers in protest.

The amputation protest was one of many made as the populist Koizumi went to the Yasukuni shrine which pays tribute to war dead, including several top war criminals.

Under pouring rain near the Independence Gate in Seoul, the men, all in their 20s, cut off their fingers in mini-guillotines before doctors used South Korean national flags to bandage their wounds.

The fingers were left in a pile on one flag. Cutting off the little finger is a traditional gesture in South Korea to show determination.

The Independence Gate building was used as a jail for anti- Japanese fighters when the Korean peninsula was occupied by Japan from 1910 to 1945. Protesters also staged a demonstration outside the Japanese embassy.

Koizumi on Monday became only the third Japanese premier to visit Yasukuni since convicted war criminals were enshrined there in 1978.

The South Korean and Chinese government both expressed public anger within hours of Koizumi bowing before the shrine.

The South Korean foreign ministry said the government "deeply regrets" that Koizumi went to Yasukuni, "a symbol of past Japanese militarism" despite warnings from other countries.

A ministry statement said South Korea "cannot refrain from expressing deep concern that the Japanese prime minister paid respects even to war criminals who destroyed world peace and inflicted indescribable damage to neighboring countries."

The ministry said that if the Japanese leader wanted "to cultivate genuine friendship and cooperation with neighboring states, we reiterate he should respect the positions and national sentiments of the countries concerned based on a correct understanding of history."

In Beijing, China expressed "strong indignation" through its foreign ministry. But the reaction was relatively restrained and took note of a conciliatory statement by Koizumi and his decision to move the visit away from Wednesday the anniversary of the end of Japan's occupation of other Asian nations on Aug. 15 1945.

"The Chinese government and people express strong dissatisfaction and indignation," said a foreign ministry statement.

"This erroneous act has damaged the political foundation of Sino-Japanese relations as well as the feelings of the Chinese people and other Asian victims."

China is wary of Koizumi's nationalist leanings and analysts said his decision to go ahead with the shrine visit would arouse deep suspicion in China.

The statement said Koizumi had broken a series of commitments by Japanese governments promising to atone for Japan's brutal occupation of parts of China between 1931 and 1945.

Virtually daily protests are held outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul demanding a full apology for Japan's occupation and compensation for the handful of survivors of the tens of thousands of South Korean "comfort women" forced to provide sex for Japanese troops during World War II.

Civic groups expressed new fury at Koizumi's latest gesture. Kim Yun-ok, a spokeswoman for the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, said: "The Japanese enshrined at Yasukuni are the very ones who raped our grandmothers."

Filipino women who were forced to work as sex slaves also condemned the visit.

"Prime Minister Koizumi may perceive those who are buried at the Yasukuni Shrine as heroes, but to us ... they remain war criminals," said Lila Pilipina, an organization representing former sex slaves during the Japanese occupation.