Aso hints he won't visit Yasukuni on Aug. 15

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TOKYO, Aug. 10 Kyodo -
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said Monday Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo deserves
''quiet prayers,'' hinting that he will refrain from making a controversial
visit to the shrine for the war dead on the Aug. 15 anniversary of the end of
World War II.
''I think it is wrong to make people who sacrificed their precious lives for
the state a political or election issue or fodder for newspapers,'' he told
reporters.
''They should be far away from the (media) frenzy and kept in a place for
praying more quietly,'' he said. ''That's my answer (to the question on whether
to visit the shrine).''
Considering possible repercussions by a visit to the shrine, Aso forwent a
visit when he was foreign minister from 2005 to 2006.
In April, Aso sent an offering to the shrine for its spring festival, which
only prompted relatively mild expressions of concern from China and South
Korea.
China and South Korea are among Asian nations that see the shrine as a symbol
of Japan's wartime military aggression.
Since taking office last September, the prime minister has been vague about
whether to visit the shrine.
==Kyodo
2009-08-10 22:06:53