 |
South Korean protestors chop off their little fingers in front of the Independence Gate in Seoul on Monday, after shouting slogans against Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's plan to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine. |
Koizumi's visit to shrine sparks anger, macabre protest
"It's an insult to Asian nations, which were victims of the Pacific War, and I view it as a revival of Japan's militarism." Kim Tae Sun, A sit-in South Korean protestor in Japan
SEOUL - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni war shrine on Monday sparked outcry elsewhere in Asia, with China denouncing the move and 20 South Koreans chopping off their little fingers in protest.
But there was no immediate suggestion that the visit would cause lasting damage to relations between Koizumi's administration and Japan's Asian neighbours, who have repeatedly accused Tokyo of trying to whitewash its wartime past.
Koizumi, who portrayed his visit as a renewal of a pledge for peace, brought forward his gesture from August 15 - the anniversary of Japan's surrender at the end of World War II and Liberation Day in South Korea.
He declined to clarify whether the visit was official or private, saying merely he had paid homage as "Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi" and had used his own money to pay for a floral offering sent in his name to the shrine at the weekend.
China and South Korea appeared unimpressed by this and the switch of dates, saying that deeper issues were at stake.
"The essence of the Yasukuni Shrine question is whether the Japanese side can sincerely repent that aggressive period of history," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement, noting that the shrine also honoured convicted war criminals.
"We are opposed to Japanese leaders paying their respects and worshipping at the Yasukuni Shrine to class-A war criminals."
The visit, the ministry said, was "directly related to the feelings of the people of the Asian countries that suffered, including China."
Many young Chinese vented their spleens in Internet chatrooms and on Web site bulletin boards, some calling for a boycott of Japanese products. "There is no friendship between China and Japan," read one message. "There never was, there isn't now and there never will be."
Nations across Asia suffered from Japan's aggression in the early 20th century and atrocities ranging from killing and torture to the use of their women as sex slaves for its soldiers.
South Korea's Liberation Day marks the end of Japan's brutal 35-year occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
Guillotine fingers
Hours before Koizumi's visit, 20 South Korean men chopped off their little fingers in a macabre public protest.
In a scene broadcast by Seoul's YTN television, the men used small guillotines, then laid their severed digits in a South Korean flag which was wrapped and then tied in a knot.
South Korea's government voiced "deep regret" over the visit, which compounds a dispute over a textbook denounced by Koreans and other Asians as a whitewash of Japanese wartime brutality.
"The government expresses deep regret at Japan's Prime Minister Koizumi's visit today to Yasukuni Shrine, a symbol of Japanese militarism, despite our repeated expressions of concern and strong opposition within Japan," the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"We cannot find the words to express our concern that a Japanese prime minister would pay homage to war criminals who destroyed world peace and caused indescribable damage to neighbouring countries," it added.
South Korea suspended some official contacts with Japan over the textbook, but the two nations have vowed not to let political issues hamper their joint hosting of soccer's 2002 World Cup.
In Japan itself, 11 South Koreans opposed to the visit staged a sit-in near the prime minister's residence on Monday.
"It's an insult to Asian nations, which were victims of the Pacific War, and I view it as a revival of Japan's militarism," said 57-year-old Kim Tae Sun.
But there was no reaction from the Philippines, which also suffered under Japanese occupation during World War II but described the visit as an internal matter.
(Agencies via Xinhua)
