Seoul: South Korea denounced visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese officials and politicians, urging Japan's leaders to squarely face history and show remorse in order to develop bilateral relations based on mutual trust. The foreign ministry issued a statement after Japanese ministers and lawmakers visited or sent ritual offerings to the controversial shrine, a symbol of Japan's militaristic past, on the anniversary of Japan's 1945 surrender in World War II.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean government expressed strong disapproval of the actions taken by Japanese leaders, describing them as anachronistic and historically oblivious. The visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors convicted war criminals and glorifies Japan's past military aggression, have long been a point of contention between the two nations. South Korea's foreign ministry emphasized the importance of Japan's leaders facing history squarely and demonstrating remorse through their actions as a foundation for building future-oriented South Korea-Japan relations based on mutual trust.

The South Korean foreign ministry took diplomatic action by summoning Kazuo Chujo, Japan's deputy chief of mission in South Korea, to express regret over the repeated visits to the shrine. Additionally, Kim Hak-jo, director general for international policy at South Korea's defense ministry, summoned Takeshi Nagayoshi, Japan's defense attache in Seoul, to the ministry's headquarters to lodge a strong protest over Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi's visit to the shrine.