North Korea on Monday criticized Japanese politicians for visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine and sending ritual offerings, calling the move a "new militarist craze."
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a spokesperson for the North Korean Foreign Ministry said that visits by Japanese lawmakers and officials to Yasukuni Shrine — seen as a symbol of wartime militarism — constitute an insult to the people of Asian nations that suffered under Japanese occupation.
Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine honors approximately 2.5 million people who died in wars since the 19th century, including 14 wartime leaders convicted as Class-A war criminals by the International Military Tribunal after World War II. Any visit by Japanese officials to the shrine typically sparks outrage in China, South Korea, and North Korea, as well as other Asian countries.
The hardline diplomatic move comes amid already tense relations between Pyongyang and Tokyo due to North Korea's missile and nuclear tests. North Korea has previously repeatedly demanded that Japan show remorse and compensate for its past atrocities.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson also stressed that Tokyo should "immediately stop" actions that glorify its history of aggression and return to a path of respecting the people of Asia if it genuinely seeks to improve bilateral relations.
