Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sent his strongest signal yet that he will not repeat previous war apologies when he gives his speech in August to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, a move that risks angering Japan's neighbors.
"I uphold the basic thinking behind past war apologies, which means there isn't a need to reiterate them," Abe said on a BS-Fuji television show Monday in response to a question about whether he'd include terms such as "aggression" or "colonial rule" in the statement.
Failure to include such terms of atonement on a key anniversary would risk irritating China and South Korea, where widespread bitterness over Japan's past militarism has soured relations.