Tokyo, 3 March, /AJMEDIA/
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is considering a new war anniversary statement this year, 80 years after World War II ended in August 1945, amid significant shifts in the international landscape, a government source said.
Ishiba, who took office in October 2024, has decided to send a message from Japan to the international community as ongoing issues, including Russia’s prolonged invasion of Ukraine, threaten global stability and peace, the source said.
Japan’s prime ministers marked the 50th, 60th and 70th anniversaries with statements that have faced scrutiny from Asian neighbors, including China and South Korea, who experienced Japanese wartime aggression.
On the 50th anniversary in 1995, then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, leader of a major left-leaning party, expressed “deep remorse” and offered his “heartfelt apology” for Japan causing damage and suffering to the people of many nations.
In his 70th anniversary statement in 2015, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a conservative, retained key phrases such as “aggression” and “colonial rule” from the statement a decade earlier and acknowledged Japan’s past apologies without offering a new one of his own.
