Japan Emperor Says Feels ‘Profound Remorse’ Over WWII

As part of Saturday’s war memorials, Emperor Akihito, the son of wartime Emperor Hirohito, will deliver a speech with Abe and other cabinet ministers present.

“Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war”, said the prime minister, adding “such a position articulated by the previous cabinets will remain unshakable into the future”.

Akihito also emphasised that Japan’s peace and prosperity stand on “the people’s tireless endeavours and their earnest desire for peace”, and renewed his war-renouncing pledge.

Less than 24 hours after Abe’s much-anticipated comments on Tokyo’s past abuses, including during its 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, Park suggested that the Japanese leader’s failure to offer a clear apology left a lot “to be desired”.

In an initial commentary published online, China’s official Xinhua news agency said Abe’s speech “trod a fine line with linguistic tricks” and was insincere.

He donated Shinto-style religious ornaments for the Yasukuni shrine, as he has done in the past since his last visit in December 2013 that triggered uproar from China and South Korea. However, a recent report by an expert panel advising Abe on his statement described Japan’s wartime activities as aggression.

When speaking about China, which suffered from Japan’s imperial march across Asia, Abe referred to “unbearable sufferings caused by the Japanese military”.

“Still, even so, we Japanese, across generations, must squarely face the history of the past”.

“The result is a bland statement that neither accepts responsibility for Japan’s past aggression in a way that will satisfy China, the Koreas and other victims of Japanese atrocities, nor does it infuriate Japan’s right-wing nationalists, who form the backbone of Abe’s supporters”, Kuznick said. How to pay tribute to the war dead should never become a diplomatic issue, she said.

South Korean media reaction to Abe’s speech was largely negative, with the largest-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper accusing the Japanese premier of wrapping his message of regret over past aggressions inside a shell of justification.

“It is an unpardonable mockery of the Korean people and an act of deceiving the global community”, said a spokesperson for Pyongyang’s foreign ministry.

The three who paid homage to the war dead enshrined there, which includes Class-A war criminals, were Haruko Arimura, minister in charge of women’s empowerment, Sanae Takaichi, minister of internal affairs and communications and Eriko Yamatani, minister in charge of the issue of Japanese abducted by North Korea. He also made what was largely seen as an oblique reference to Japan’s use of women as sex slaves, known as “comfort women”, during the war.