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European right-wingers visit Yasukuni
shrine
AP , TOKYO
Sunday, Aug 15, 2010, Page 1
French National Front leader Jean-Marie Le
Pen, left, and party vice president Bruno Gollnisch, second left, Austrian Franz
Obermayr , second right, and Hungarian Krisztina Morvai smile during their visit
to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, yesterday.
PHOTO: EPA
French nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen and other European right-wing politicians
paid a visit yesterday to a Japanese shrine that has drawn outrage for honoring
war criminals.
Le Pen, leader of the far-right French National Front and Adam Walker of the
British National Party said they were making the visit, which comes a day ahead
of the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II, to pay respect to those who
died in war.
¡§What counts is the will that we had to honor those who have fallen for
defending their country, whether they are Japanese, or any soldiers of the
world, we have the same respect for them,¡¨ Le Pen told reporters.
Le Pen is known for his anti-immigrant and extremist views. He shocked France
when he qualified for the second round of the 2002 presidential race, which
Jacques Chirac eventually won.
The visit to Yasukuni, an ornate Shinto shrine in downtown Tokyo, was arranged
by the International Conference of Patriotic Organisations, which brought
together right-wing parties from eight European countries with members of a
Japanese ultranationalist group called the Issuikai.
Yasukuni honors Japan¡¦s war dead, including convicted war criminals. Pacifists
and victims of Japanese aggression, such as China and the Koreas, say it
glorifies Japan¡¦s past militarism.
The visit by Le Pen and others may also anger some former prisoners of war in
those countries being represented by the right-wing groups.
Tens of thousands of British, Dutch and other European soldiers and civilians
were captured by the Japanese Imperial Army as it swept across Europe¡¦s former
Asian colonies at the beginning of World War II. Thousands were executed,
tortured and starved to death in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps.
When asked about his visit, Walker said: ¡§I¡¦m honoring the dead. I am here to
honor the dead ¡X heroes that have died for their country.¡¨
In the past, visits to Yasukuni by Japanese politicians have provoked outrage
from China, South Korea and neighboring Asian countries.
Some lawmakers, as well as hundreds of regular Japanese whose relatives and
friends died as soldiers in World War II, are expected to visit Yasukuni today
to mark the end of World War II.
However, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his ministers are expected to
shun the visit ¡X the first time all members of a Japanese Cabinet will stay
away.
Kan¡¦s liberal Democratic Party defeated the long-reigning conservative Liberal
Democrats for the first time in decades in last year¡¦s parliamentary elections.
Earlier this week, Kan apologized to South Korea for its colonial rule and the
suffering Japan caused the Korean people, and expressed hopes for a partnership.
Japanese leaders have repeatedly apologized for wartime aggression against its
Asian neighbors, including a 1995 apology from a leftist-leaning prime minister
that marked the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.
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