Roh slams Koizumi on Yasukuni

SEOUL (Kyodo) South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun on Monday condemned as "reckless" efforts by Japanese leaders to "drum up" public support at the expense of other countries' feelings, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Roh did not name Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi directly during a speech commemorating a Korean uprising against Japanese colonial rule 85 years ago. Yet his barbs appeared to be aimed at Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors convicted Japanese war criminals as well as the nation's war dead.

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Roh said he wants to tour Yushukan, a war museum inside the Yasukuni Shrine, which displays war mementos and weapons that date back to the Sino-Japanese War.

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A Memorial Day ceremony is supposed to remember, thank and honor those who sacrificed themselves for the country, but the president had nothing but a few formulaic phrases for them. Instead, he derides the history they built and defended at the National Cemetery where 54,460 of them, including two former presidents of the Republic, are buried, and in front of some 5,000 surviving relatives, students and others. The president has, to be sure, described our history as one where "justice was defeated and opportunism prevailed" since his inauguration. But does he have to do it on Memorial Day?

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