Key executives of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), known as the party's top four officials, are expected to visit the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, which marks both South Korea's Liberation Day and Japan's WWII defeat anniversary, the Sankei Shimbun reported on August 14.

According to the report, LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, General Council Chairperson Haruko Arimura, Policy Research Council Chairperson Takayuki Kobayashi, and Election Strategy Committee Chairperson Yasutoshi Nishimura are coordinating plans to visit the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15.

Sankei commented that while individual LDP executives have visited the Yasukuni Shrine in the past, a group visit by the party's top four officials is unusual.

Regarding the matter, an LDP official told Sankei, "This is a visit made strictly from the party's standpoint. It is important to pay tribute to the war dead with all one's heart."

Meanwhile, local media outlets are reporting that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans not to visit Yasukuni on August 15, citing her focus on recovery efforts for the Kumamoto earthquake.

While domestic concentration is cited as the superficial reason, observers speculate that visiting the Yasukuni Shrine—widely seen as a symbol of Japanese militarism—is feared to cause cracks in diplomatic relations with South Korea, which has been improving, as well as in the trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan.

Prime Minister Takaichi is a politician who previously visited the Yasukuni Shrine during the autumn festival in 2021 when she served as the LDP Policy Research Council chairperson, and has regularly visited on August 15 as well.

During the LDP leadership election held in October of last year, she also publicly stated that she would visit the Yasukuni Shrine if she assumed office as prime minister.

However, since taking office, Prime Minister Takaichi has refrained from visiting in person and has only offered ritual offerings under her personal name.

During a press conference on the 7th, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, the Japanese government's spokesperson, stated regarding whether Prime Minister Takaichi and himself would visit the Yasukuni Shrine or make ritual offerings, "It is a matter for the Prime Minister to judge appropriately, and the same goes for me."

Kumiko Haba, professor emeritus at Aoyama Gakuin University, told the Tokyo Shimbun that Prime Minister Takaichi's past remarks regarding historical perceptions were not based on Japan's wartime aggressions, urging that "she must act and speak cautiously on the defeat anniversary so as not to disrupt diplomacy with neighboring countries."

The Yasukuni Shrine honors about 2.466 million people who died in civil wars before and after the Meiji Restoration and numerous wars instigated by imperial Japan.

In particular, it enshrines Class-A war criminals of the Pacific War, including former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who were executed following the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the Tokyo Trials).

The last time a sitting Japanese prime minister visited the Yasukuni Shrine was in 2013 by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which triggered backlash from neighboring countries such as South Korea and China, while ally the United States also expressed concern, calling it an act that worsens regional tensions.

(Photo provided by Professor Seo Kyoung-duk, Yonhap News)