Japan: South Korean arrested outside Yasukuni Shrine ceremony for war dead

Japanese police said they arrested a South Korean national holding a banner carrying political messages on Wednesday for allegedly obstructing an annual spring festival at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine. 

The shrine honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead, including convicted criminals. 

Victims of Japanese aggression and imperialism before and during World War II, especially China and the Koreas, often perceive visits to the shrine as demonstrating a lack of remorse about Japan's wartime past. 

The 64-year-old held up a banner carrying messages including one urging "war criminals" to stop praying at the shrine, and another making territorial claims on an island disputed between Japan and South Korea. 

According to the Japanese Kyodo news agency, the man stood at the main gate in front of the shrine in front of vehicles that were carrying messengers from the emperor. The shrine's website said that the messengers were delivering offerings from the emperor, who did not attend the politically sensitive event in person. 

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Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a conservative who would regularly pray at the shrine in the past before graduating to the top job, for the second time sent a religious ornament and offering instead of visiting in person. 

This nevertheless prompted criticism from China and South Korea. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman described the shrine as a "spiritual instrument and symbol of the wars of aggression launched by Japanese militarism."

A South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson, meanwhile, expressed "deep disappointment and regret." 

"Our government urges Japan's responsible leaders to face history squarely and to demonstrate, through action, a humble reflection on and a sincere remorse for its past," spokesman Park Il told reporters. 

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No Japanese prime minister has visited the shrine since 2013, when Shinzo Abe doing so prompted severe criticism from Beijing and Seoul — as well as a rare rebuke from the US. 

But while Japan's emperor and prime ministers tend to avoid the site, lawmakers regularly pay homage in person. According to Kyodo, a delegation of more than 120 lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) visited the Tokyo shrine on Wednesday. 

Although separate from the main group, Cabinet member Minoru Kiuchi, the minister of economic and fiscal policy, also attended the three-day spring festival, telling reporters he had offered his "sincere gratitude, with deep reverence, to the spirits of heroes who gave their precious lives for the nation." 

A veteran LDP member of the House of Representatives, Ichiro Aisawa, led the group and told reporters: "The many war dead laid the foundation for a peaceful and prosperous Japan." 

"We must firmly pass down the memories and records of war to keep them from fading," he said. 

This year's ceremony comes as Japan under Takaichi continues its process of loosening its restrictions on military activity, weapons exports and other such issues established following its defeat in World War II. 

Edited by: Alex Berry