Japanese Rightist Group Apologizes to Korean Embassy

A Japanese rightist group placed an advertisement in two newspapers to encourage people to gather at Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, where Japan’s war dead are worshiped, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Ⅱ. However, in the advertisement, the group included the South Korean embassy in the list of foreign missions to visit the shrine, which triggered a strong displeasure and objection from the South Korea government.

The group, “Citizen’s gathering for paying tribute to Yasukuni Shrine,” placed a full-page advertisement in the Sankei Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun, both right wing newspapers, saying that several leaders of international communities had also visited the shrine, along with a list of 35 nations whose foreign envoys made a visit to the shrine. Among them was South Korea. Knowing this, the South Korean embassy in Japan expressed a strong objection to Yasukuni Shrine, which had provided its sources, asking for the confirmation of the fact.

The shrine admitted the mistake of its office work, and sent a letter of apology to the South Korean embassy. It also promised to publish a correction in the newspapers in the name of the same group as soon as possible.

Won-Jae Park parkwj@donga.com