Japan Denies Ikuina Visit to Yasukuni Shrine

Tokyo, Nov. 25 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi on Monday denied that Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Akiko Ikuina visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine after becoming a lawmaker.

The denial came following the absence of South Korean representatives at a ceremony held Sunday to remember people who worked in the now-defunct gold mines on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan. The absence is seen as due to a report saying that Ikuina, who was sent to the memorial ceremony as a representative of the Japanese government, had paid a visit to pray at the war-related Shinto shrine in the Japanese capital in the past.

Hayashi, Japan's top government spokesman, described sending her to the ceremony held on the island as "not a problem."

He said the government recognized that Ikuina had not prayed at Yasukuni Shrine since she was elected to the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of Japan's parliament, in July 2022. Hayashi stated that the Japanese government had explained this to the South Korea side.

On South Korea's absence from the ceremony, which was held following the UNESCO World Heritage designation of Sado Island Gold Mines earlier this year, Hayashi said that this was "a shame despite close communications" between the two countries.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]