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.