Japan PM Abe sends ritual offering to Yasukuni shrine for war dead

Mr Koichi Hagiuda (centre), an aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a lawmaker in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, walks as he visits the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug 15, 2014, to mark the 69th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II. -
Mr Koichi Hagiuda (centre), an aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a lawmaker in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, walks as he visits the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug 15, 2014, to mark the 69th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

TOKYO (REUTERS) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent an offering to a shrine for war dead on Friday, the anniversary of Japan's World War Two defeat, but did not make a personal visit to the shrine seen in China and South Korea as a symbol of Tokyo's wartime militarism.

Koichi Hagiuda, an aide to Abe and a lawmaker in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, told reporters at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine that he had made the offering on Abe's behalf.

Visits to Yasukuni Shrine by top politicians outrage China and South Korea because the shrine honours 14 Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal, along with war dead.

Abe, who visited in person in December, has said he did so to show respect for those who died for their country.

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