"Suddenly Bowing Down"... The Unexpected Destination of Takaichi's Gaze

[Anchor]

Today (August 15), which marks Japan's war defeat day, the Takaichi administration clearly displayed its rightward-leaning trajectory. The expression of 'remorse' was omitted from the war dead memorial address, and key figures of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) made a group visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.

Tokyo Correspondent Mun Junmo has the report.

[Reporter]

In her first memorial address on the war defeat day since taking office, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi completely omitted any reference to remorse for past aggressive wars.

[Sanae Takaichi / Japanese Prime Minister: Post-war Japan has consistently walked the path of a nation that values peace...]

Last year, former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba revived the 'pledge not to wage war,' along with 'remorse,' for the first time in 13 years, but the clock has been turned back once again.

The phrase 'will not repeat the horrors of war,' which had been used by successive prime ministers, was also changed to a vague 'will not let them be repeated' without a clear subject.

Although she did not visit the Yasukuni Shrine in person, she was reportedly seen performing 'yobai'—bowing toward the shrine hundreds of meters away and clapping twice—just before attending the memorial service for war dead.

This appears to be a move to appease the dissatisfaction of conservative supporters while avoiding an actual visit, which she had carried out every year before becoming prime minister, in consideration of backlash from South Korea, China, and other neighboring countries.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited Yasukuni, marking the first time an incumbent defense minister has done so in two years, and LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, along with other key party executives, unusually engaged in a group pilgrimage.

Kyodo News analyzed that this could be a preparatory step for Takaichi to visit the shrine herself in the future.

In the past, the Yasukuni Shrine unilaterally enshrined 21,181 conscripted Koreans alongside 14 Class-A war criminals from the Pacific War.

Bereaved families, who have been waging a lawsuit across four generations to retract the enshrinement, held a street march in Tokyo on August 9 to criticize the Japanese government's rightward shift.

[Lee Hee-ja / Daughter of Lee Hyun-sun, a victim of Yasukuni enshrinement: Isn't Prime Minister Takaichi trying to change the constitution? Trying to drive precious lives into war... and turn us into victims of war like this.]

The South Korean government criticized the Japanese political circle's visits to Yasukuni Shrine, summoning Takeshi Nagayoshi, the Japanese defense attache to South Korea, to the Ministry of National Defense headquarters to protest Defense Minister Koizumi's shrine visit, and also summoning Kazuo Chujo, Minister-Counselor at the Japanese Embassy in South Korea, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to express strong regret.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video Reported by Moon Hyun-jin | Video Edited by Jung Yong-hwa | Design by Park Tae-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.