Japan irks South Korea by offering ritual to controversial war dead at shrine

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine for the war dead, the shrine said on Saturday, prompting criticism from Seoul as it is seen in the two Koreas and China as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

On Friday, around 70 lawmakers paid their respects at the shrine, which honors 14 Japanese leaders convicted by an Allied tribunal as war criminals along with Japan's war dead.

Abe sparked widespread international outrage, including from key ally the United States, when he visited the shrine in 2013 but has since sent offerings on the occasion of Yasukuni's spring and autumn festivals instead of going himself.
  [presstv.com/Reuters]
 21/4/18
-

-
2017:

• More than 60 Japanese MPs visit controversial Yasukuni shrine
• Abe sends ritual offering to notorious Yasukuni Shrine