Takaichi likely to forgo Yasukuni visit on Aug. 15: Japanese media

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to skip a visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday, Aug. 15 — Korea’s Liberation Day from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule, according to Japanese media outlets Wednesday.

The day also marks Japan’s surrender in World War II.

Takaichi is not planning to visit the shrine that honors Japan's wartime leaders on Saturday, Kyodo News and Jiji Press reported.

“Such a visit to the Tokyo shrine by Takaichi […] would certainly fuel tensions with China and create a rift in relations with South Korea, both countries that suffered under Japan's wartime military aggression,” Kyodo News reported.

The decision was also seen as reflecting diplomatic considerations amid expectations of a strong backlash from China.

Although Takaichi regularly visited Yasukuni Shrine for its spring and autumn festivals and on Aug. 15 while serving as a Cabinet minister, she has not visited the shrine since becoming leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and prime minister in October last year.

During the LDP leadership election held last October, she also pledged to visit the shrine if she became prime minister. She noted that such visits should not become a diplomatic issue.

However, Takaichi has since refrained from visiting the shrine in person and has instead sent ritual offerings in her name.

Yasukuni Shrine honors some 2.47 million people who died in civil conflicts surrounding the Meiji Restoration and in numerous wars waged by the imperial regime of Japan. Among those enshrined there are Class-A war criminals from World War II, including former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who was executed following the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, commonly known as the Tokyo Trial.

BY JUNG SI-NAE [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]