Asia-Pacific News
Lawmakers discuss new memorial to war dead
Nov 9, 2005, 11:45 GMT
TOKYO, Japan (UPI) -- Japanese lawmakers have discussed the
building of a secular memorial to Japan`s war dead to avoid dispute
over the prime minister`s visits to Yasukuni Shrine.
About 100 lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the
New Komeito party and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan
attended the first meeting Wednesday morning in Tokyo and discussed
the necessity of a secular facility to replace Tokyo`s Yasukuni
Shrine, which honors 2.5 million war dead including war criminals,
the Kyodo News reported Wednesday.
Taku Yamasaki, a former LDP vice president who has been named
chairman of the group, said, 'How best can we pay tribute to the
war dead without any hesitation? We would like to make proposals on
a new facility.'
'The Democratic Party of Japan has also been interested in this
issue for three to four years. We would like to engage in active
discussions,' said Yukio Hatoyama, the party`s secretary
general.
The move came after South Korea`s Unification Minister Chung
Dong-young argued Japan should build a new war memorial, in
accordance with a bilateral agreement reached in October at a
meeting with Yamasaki. In response to the meeting, Yamasaki
arranged to launch this group.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International