Asia remembers WWII

TOKYO – Asia paused yesterday to remember Japan’s surrender to the allied forces which ended World War II 65 years ago, as the Japanese prime minister apologised for wreaking suffering on the region and the South Korean president said Tokyo’s remorse was a step in the right direction.

From Nanjing – the site of a 1937 massacre by Japanese troops – to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which has drawn outrage from Asia for honouring Class A war criminals, people prayed for the millions who died in war and expressed hopes for peace.
The reckoning with history has taken special meaning this year as it comes amid a global effort to realise a world without nuclear weapons, a resolve backed by President Barack Obama. But there were reminders of lingering tensions.
In Seoul, President Lee Myung-bak, dressed in traditional robes, led a ceremony celebrating the liberation of the Korean peninsula from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule with the August 15 surrender.
He also urged North Korea to abandon military provocations and make a “courageous change” toward peace. Relations with North Korea have nose-dived after the March sinking of a South Korean warship and Pyongyang’s firing last week of a barrage of artillery into South Korean waters.
In Tokyo, at a ceremony for the war dead, Prime Minister Naoto Kan reiterated his apology to South Korea for wartime atrocities, and this time offered his regret to all of Asia.
Last week, Kan offered “deep remorse” in an apology issued ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Japanese annexation of the Korean peninsula on August 29, 1910.
“We caused great damage and suffering to many nations during the war, especially to the people of Asia,” Kan said Sunday before a crowd of about 6 000, including Emperor Akihito, at Budokan hall.
Many older Koreans still harbour resentment against Japan over the colonisation. Hundreds of thousands of Koreans were forced to fight as front-line soldiers, work in slave-labour conditions or serve as prostitutes called “comfort women” in brothels operated by the military.
Reflecting a common sentiment among Koreans, activist Lee Kang-sil criticised Japan’s apology as “lacking in action.”
In Australia, World War II veterans and representatives from New Zealand, the US and Asian countries were among more than 300 people gathered in downtown Sydney to mark the anniversary. – Nampa-AP

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