TOKYO (AP) Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday donated religions offerings to a Tokyo shrine viewed by China and both Koreas as a symbol of wartime aggression, though he avoided a visit.
Sugas offering of masakaki leaves at Yasukuni Shrine was his second since taking office in September and marks the shrines biannual festival honoring Japan's war dead.
Victims of Japanese military aggression in most of the first half of the 20th century, especially the Koreas and China, see the shrine as a symbol of Japans militarism because it honors convicted World War II criminals among about 2.5 million war dead.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters that Sugas offering at the shrine was considered an activity as a private person and the government was not in a position to comment about it.
NHK public television reported two members of Sugas Cabinet visited the shrine, Health Minister Norihisa Tamura and Shinji Inoue, minister in charge of the 2025 world expo.
Sugas predecessor, Shinzo Abe, who is known for his revisionist stance on Japans wartime atrocities, offered prayers at the shrine Wednesday. Abe stayed away from the shrine for seven years after his 2013 visit triggered outrage from China and the Koreas, but he has regularly visited since he resigned as prime minister last year.
Many South Koreans hold strong resentment against Japan for its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have sunk to their lowest levels in recent years over history and disputes over compensation for Korean wartime forced labor and systematic sexual abuse of comfort women by the Japanese military.