Misreport on Ikuina's Yasukuni Visit "Extremely Regrettable": Hayashi

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japan's top government spokesperson, at a press conference on Tuesday, called it "extremely regrettable" that Kyodo News erroneously reported that Akiko Ikuina, parliamentary vice foreign minister, had visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine.

The report "caused confusion and is extremely regrettable," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

Hayashi made the comment after the Japanese news agency said the previous day it mistakenly reported that Ikuina, also a member of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the country's parliament, visited the Shinto shrine on Aug. 15, 2022, which marked the 77th anniversary of the end of World War Il.

The news coverage in question is believed to have prompted the South Korean delegation to skip a memorial service for all gold miners including Koreans on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture on Sunday.

The shrine honors Class-A war criminals along with the war dead and is seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism by its neighboring countries.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]