Japan Government Wants Kyodo News to Explain False Report Claiming Official Visited Yasukuni Shrine in August 2022

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:53 JST, November 27, 2024

The government intends to ask Kyodo News to explain why it falsely reported that Akiko Ikuina, a parliamentary vice-minister for foreign affairs, had visited Yasukuni Shrine in the past, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi.

“It is extremely regrettable that an erroneous news report not based on fact was published. The government will ask Kyodo News to explain the facts and how that came about,” Hayashi said at a press conference Tuesday.

A report that Ikuina visited and worshipped at Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, 2022, was published around that time by Kyodo News.

The assertion that Ikuina had gone to the shrine was repeated this month, in an article about Ikuina attending a memorial ceremony for gold mine workers in Sado, Niigata Prefcture. The ceremony was organized jointly by Japan and South Korea to remember Japanese and Korean workers at the gold mine, which is a World Cultural Heritage site.

However, Ikuina had not visited the shrine on Aug. 15, 2022. Kyodo News issued a correction, saying that its reporters had not sufficiently confirmed the facts.

Just before the Sado ceremony, the South Korean government decided not to attend. It is possible that the report by Kyodo News affected the decision.

“The mistaken news report caused confusion,” Hayashi said.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Kyodo News President Toru Mizutani met on Tuesday with Masataka Okano, a vice minister for foreign affairs who is the top bureaucrat in the ministry.

Mizutani apologized, saying, “I regret that we influenced the Japan-South Korea relationship.”

Okano strongly demanded that the news agency take thorough measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it was dissatisfied with Japan’s attitude in discussions about the ceremony and therefore South Korean representatives did not attend. It said it had conveyed that explanation to Japanese authorities.