Japan should stop history suppression: Roh

Seoul, Jan 25: Japan should stop suppressing its militarist past and its leaders avoid visiting a Tokyo shrine critics say glorifies Japanese wartime aggression, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said today.

But Roh said there was no need now to set conditions for a visit to Japan because Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, unlike his predecessor, has not visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine since taking office last September.

''Why is Japan trying to ignore the issue of the past?'' Roh said at a news conference. ''It should not be doing so.'' Roh broke off bilateral summit diplomacy with former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2005 over his visits to Yasukuni -- where Japanese World War Two leaders convicted by an Allied tribunal as war criminals are honoured along with millions of war dead.

Koreans, Chinese and other victims of past Japanese militarism find the visits deeply offensive.

Roh has often criticised Japan for not offering proper contrition for its 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.

South Korea was the second country, after China, Abe visited shortly after becoming prime minister.

At his news conference, Roh asked Japanese leaders to think deeply about the implications of visiting Yasukuni.

''I don't want to consider whether or not to visit Japan and its timing with any kind of precondition in mind,'' Roh said. He did not say whether he was planning such a visit soon.

Reuters