Yasukuni Shrine refused to announce Korean war victims' names enshrined as "war heroes"

Yasukuni Shrine, known as a Shinto-based war shrine which enshrines war dead, including Tojo Hideki and other Class-A war criminals, refused in 1995 to provide South Korea's Pusan Cemetery with a list of the names of Koreans who are enshrined there as "war heroes."

Akahata reported on August 16 that it obtained a letter which Pusan Cemetery received from Yasukuni Shrine concerning the request.

Pusan Cemetery Director Chung Giyoung wanted the Koreans' names removed from Yasukuni Shrine and engraved on a monument in the cemetery. In August 1995, he wrote Yasukuni Shrine a letter requesting the shrine to provide the names of Korean soldiers who fought and gave their lives for Japan as "Japanese soldiers" in the Pacific War.

In November of the same year, the director received Yasukuni's reply stating that the list is so important for the shrine that it can't be made public.

Family members of the Korean victims in the Pacific War filed a suit in the Tokyo District Court in June 2001, calling for the removal of the Koreans' names from Yasukuni Shrine.
The South Korean government is requesting Japan to help Yasukuni Shrine end the enshrinement of Koreans. (end)