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| Japan PM Shinzo Abe expresses 'profound grief' for WW2 | Japan PM Shinzo Abe expresses 'profound grief' for WW2 |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed "profound grief" over his country's actions in World War Two. | Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed "profound grief" over his country's actions in World War Two. |
| In the statement marking 70 years since Japan's WW2 surrender, he said apologies made by previous governments were "unshakeable". | In the statement marking 70 years since Japan's WW2 surrender, he said apologies made by previous governments were "unshakeable". |
| Mr Abe pledged that Japan would "never wage a war again". | Mr Abe pledged that Japan would "never wage a war again". |
| His speech has been closely watched by Asian countries, including South Korea and China, amid concerns he would play down Japan's wartime atrocities. | His speech has been closely watched by Asian countries, including South Korea and China, amid concerns he would play down Japan's wartime atrocities. |
| Read more: Saying 'sorry' in Japanese | Read more: Saying 'sorry' in Japanese |
| Provisional translation of the speech | |
| China and South Korea in particular suffered extensively under Japanese wartime occupation, and say Japan has never fully atoned for its actions. | China and South Korea in particular suffered extensively under Japanese wartime occupation, and say Japan has never fully atoned for its actions. |
| Mr Abe said that Japan had inflicted "immeasurable damage and suffering" on "innocent people" during the war. | |
| He upheld apologies issued by past governments, but did not issue a new formal apology of his own. | |
| "Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war," he said. | |
| "Such position articulated by the previous cabinets will remain unshakeable into the future," the official translation of his remarks said. | |
| However, Mr Abe added that Japan's future generations should not "be predestined to apologise". | |
| Mr Abe is under pressure not only to avoid angering China and South Korea, important regional allies, but also to satisfy domestic nationalists who have grown uneasy with the repeated demands that they apologise for historic decisions. | Mr Abe is under pressure not only to avoid angering China and South Korea, important regional allies, but also to satisfy domestic nationalists who have grown uneasy with the repeated demands that they apologise for historic decisions. |
| In 1995, then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issued a landmark apology offering a "heartfelt apology" and expressing "deep remorse" for Japan's "colonial rule and aggression". | |
| His sentiments were repeated 10 years later by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. | |
| Mr Abe's speech comes weeks after Japan's lower house approved changes to the constitution which would enable its forces to fight overseas for the first time since WW2. | |
| Mr Abe has pushed for the changes, but polls show more than half of Japanese citizens oppose them. | Mr Abe has pushed for the changes, but polls show more than half of Japanese citizens oppose them. |
| World War II end dates confusion | World War II end dates confusion |