Kishida vows to push rules-based order as Japan's defense chief visits Yasukuni 79 years after WWII

TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed to step up his country’s effort to defend a rules-based international order in a peace pledge made Thursday on the 79th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II.

“We will never again repeat the tragedy of war” and will stick to the country’s postwar pacifist resolve, he said at a solemn ceremony at the Budokan hall.

“In the world where tragic battles have persisted, Japan will continue its effort to maintain and strengthen the rules-based, free and open international order” and endeavor to resolve difficult global issues, Kishida said.

Kishida noted that more than 3 million Japanese were killed in the war. He also talked about the destruction in bloody ground battles on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, fire-bombings across Japan, and the atomic attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. But he did not mention or apologize for Japanese aggression across Asia or the millions of lives lost there.

The omission follows a precedent set by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in his speech in 2013, a move critics call a whitewashing of Japan’s wartime atrocities.

Earlier Thursday, three of Kishida's ministers, including Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, prayed at the Yasukuni Shrine — seen by Asian neighbors as a symbol of militarism.

The controversial shrine honors convicted war criminals among about 2.5 million war dead. Victims of Japanese aggression, especially China and the Koreas, see visits to the shrine as a lack of remorse, and visits by defense officials are considered especially controversial.

Kihara is the first serving defense chief to pray at the shrine on the anniversary since then-Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi’s 2021 visit.

“I offered my sincere condolences for those who sacrificed their precious lives in the war and expressed my respect," Kihara told reporters, adding that he paid tribute as a private individual. Asked about a possible impact on the relationship with Seoul, he said he would continue his effort to strengthen ties with South Korea.

Kishida abstained from praying at the Yasukuni Shrine just a block away and sent a religious ornament instead.

Asian neighbors criticized the ministers' visit to Yasukuni on Thursday.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian, in a written statement, called Yasukuni visits by Japanese political leaders an “erroneous attitude towards historical issues.”

“Facing up to and deeply reflecting on the history of aggression is an essential prerequisite for Japan to establish and develop friendship and cooperation with its Asian neighbors after World War II,” Lin said, urging Japan to also "make a clean break with militarism, stick to the path of peaceful development, and take concrete actions to earn the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community.”

In Seoul, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry in a statement expressed “deep disappointment and regret” over the ministers' visits to the shrine and said, "Our government calls for the responsible leaders in Japan to squarely face history and demonstrate through actions a humble reflection and genuine remorse for the past and we emphasize again that this would be an important foundation for the development of future-oriented Korea-Japan relations.”

Emperor Naruhito, who also attended the ceremony, repeated his “deep remorse” over Japan’s actions during the war that was fought in the name of the wartime emperor Hirohito, his grandfather.

Kishida accelerated Japan’s military buildup and spending as the country further deepens military cooperation with the United States and their Indo-Pacific partners in the face of growing threats from China and North Korea.

Kishida, who took office in 2021, announced Wednesday that he plans to step down after his governing party leadership vote in September.

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Associated Press video journalist Mayuko Ono and writers Ken Moritsugu in Beijing and Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed.