ARIRANG NEWS 14:00 Japan′s PM praised Class-A war criminals for being ′foundatio

The Japanese government has confirmed that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently sent a note hailing some of the country′s worst war criminals... as "martyrs" and "the foundation" of the country.
The news may further strain Tokyo′s ties with neighboring countries, including Korea.
Kwon Soa reports.
Unfortunately it comes as no great surprise anymore that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe chooses to glorify some of Japan′s worst war criminals.. much to the despair and anger of Japan′s neighbors who suffered so terribly under Japanese imperialism.
On Wednesday, Japan′s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga confirmed that Abe sent a note in late April to an annual memorial ceremony at the Koyasan Buddhist temple in western Japan.
In his message, Abe offers his sincere condolences to the criminals, whom he refers to martyrs that became the foundation of the country′s peace and prosperity.
He also wished for eternal peace and pledged to pave the way to a harmonious human coexistence in the future.
Former Japanese military officers, the organizers of the ceremony, said it was the first time for a sitting prime minister to send such note, but Suga said Abe′s remarks did not come from his capacity as Prime Minister.
"In this case he sent this message as Shinzo Abe and the head of the Liberal Democratic Party. As such the government thinks of him in this respect as a private citizen."
The ceremony′s venue has a compound founded in 1994, worshipping nearly 12-hundred soldiers convicted of some of the worst wartime crimes.
It includes 14 class-A war criminals that are also honored at the more well-known Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo.
Abe′s visit to the shrine last December outraged Korea and China.
Kwon Soa, Arirang News.