'Deep remorse': Japan marks day of World War II surrender

ISTANBUL

Japan on Monday commemorated the 77th year since its World War II surrender, with the country's Emperor Naruhito expressed "deep remorse" for Japan’s wartime past.

"Reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse, I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never again be repeated," Naruhito told an official ceremony in Tokyo.

The imperial was born after the end of the war, from which Japan announced its unconditional surrender in 1945.

Japan lost around 2.3 million military personnel and 800,000 civilians in the war.

Also attending the event, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed that Tokyo would "join forces with the international community and make all-out efforts to solve the various problems the world is facing."

However, Kishida avoided reference to Japan's wartime aggression in Asia, carrying on a tradition set by predecessors Yoshihide Suga and Shinzo Abe.

Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi and Reconstruction Minister Kenya Akiba paid a visit to the war-linked Yasukuni shrine.

This was the third year that Cabinet-rank Japanese officials visited the shrine, which more than 2.4 million war dead, including convicted war criminals.

Takaichi and Akiba were appointed as ministers by Kishida last week.

At noon, local time, a duration of silence was observed for those who perished in the war, including those killed by the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"I prayed here so that no more people would have to die because of war," said Takaichi.

Akiba, for his part, said he "renewed" his pledge "never to fight a war."

The visit to Yasukuni shrine triggered an angry response from China, which said it "shows the Japanese government's erroneous attitude toward historical issues."

China's Foreign Ministry said it has issued a demarche to the Japanese side.

"We urge the Japanese side to own up to and deeply reflect on its history of aggression, properly handle relevant issues with a sense of responsibility and win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the larger international community through concrete actions," said the ministry.

Beijing's reaction was linked to the second Sino-Japanese War, waged in 1937-1945, a period that China describes as a war of resistance against Japanese invasion. Hundreds of thousands of people on both sides perished during the war.