Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday for the first time as premier, threatening to further strain relations with China and South Korea.
In October Abe, who took office exactly a year ago, offered a sacred tree branch used in rituals at the shrine, but did not attend himself. The shrine is dedicated to 2.5 million war dead, including 14 Class A war criminals from World War II.
Abe is the first premier to offer prayers at the war memorial since then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi on August 15, 2006, the anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II.
Visits by political leaders to the shrine often infuriate neighbouring Asian countries, especially China and South Korea, which see it as glorifying Japan’s wartime aggression.