(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Saturday urged Japan to improve relations with its neighboring countries after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to a war-linked shrine in Tokyo in late December fueled anger in China and South Korea, Japanese News Agency (Kyodo) reported.
"Secretary Hagel underscored the importance of Japan taking steps to improve relations with its neighbors," Defense Department Press Secretary Rear Adm.
John Kirby said in a statement summarizing telephone talks between Hagel and Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera.
Abe's visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Dec. 26 angered China and South Korea, both of which suffered from Japanese wartime aggression, further worsening Japan's strained ties with the two countries.
The US government said it was "disappointed" to see Abe go ahead with the trip to Yasukuni as it would exacerbate tensions with China and South Korea.
Onodera sought the US government's understanding over Abe's visit to the shrine, telling Hagel that the prime minister renewed the pledge that Japan must never wage war again, Japanese officials said.
On Jan. 1, Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshitaka Shindo also visited the shrine, which honors Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal along with millions of war dead.
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