Japan PM Abe urges dialogue with China, Korea

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he wants to explain to leaders in China and South Korea about his visits to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which honors the country's war dead.

Japan has not made any direct overtures, Abe said, but he hopes the leaders can meet to help resolve antagonisms over territorial disputes and historical issues.

"At the moment, there is no plan for a summit meeting, but since there are some difficulties and issues we should be speaking together without setting any preconditions," he told reporters after making a new year's visit to the Grand Shrine of Ise, in western Japan.

"I would really like to explain the intent of my visits to the Yasukuni Shrine directly to them," Abe said. "We are not making any direct approach on this, but the door to dialogue is open. I would like to hold Japan-China and Japan-South Korea summit meetings."

Japan colonized Korea and occupied parts of China before and during World War II and that often brutal legacy taints relations with its neighbors decades later. China and South Korea reacted angrily to Abe's visit in late December to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where 14 class A war criminals are enshrined among the 2.5 million war dead.

After the Yasukuni visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the visit had closed the door for dialogue and that Abe would not be welcome in China.

Abe has said Japan should never wage war again, though he favors strengthening the military and revising the country's pacifist constitution. That agenda is popular with some Japanese, though polls show the majority are more concerned about the economy.

"I am confident that we can gain understanding.. If we firmly explain the Abe administration's pro-active pacifism," he said.