Japan minister visits controversial Tokyo war shrine

A Japanese cabinet minister on Saturday visited Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in a move likely to anger China and South Korea which see it as a symbol of the country's militarist past.

An AFP reporter saw Haruko Arimura, minister in charge of women's empowerment, enter the gates of the leafy shrine dedicated to millions who died in conflicts -- but also including more than a dozen war criminals.

Other politicians walked down the shrine's stone path Saturday morning with at least one more cabinet minister expected to visit later in the day.

Visits by Japanese politicians every August 15 -- the anniversary of Japan's WWII surrender -- enrage neighbouring nations, which view them as an insult and a painful reminder of Tokyo's aggression in the first half of the 20th century, including a brutal 35-year occupation of the Korean peninsula.

The anniversary comes after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday delivered a closely watched speech that expressed regret but also said future generations need not apologise for Japan's war record.

His remarks were welcomed by the US but blasted by China and the South Korean press as insincere.

Both countries suffered badly from Japan's imperial march across Asia in the 20th century and wanted Abe to uphold previous explicit prime-ministerial apologies.

The grandson of a wartime cabinet minister, Abe will not visit the leafy Yasukuni shrine on Saturday and sent a ritual offering instead, local media reported.

His late 2013 visit drew an angry response from Beijing and Seoul, as well as rebuke from close ally Washington.