Koizumi Apologizes for Past Colonization

[sintax]

Koizumi Apologizes for Past Colonization

Monday August 15, 2005 4:16 AM

By HANS GREIMEL

Associated Press Writer

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's leader apologized for Tokyo's wartime colonization and invasions on the 60th anniversary of the country's surrender on Monday, after other Asian nations marked event by honoring their dead and demanding compensation for their losses.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged that Japan would never forget the ``terrible lessons'' of the war, and expressed his ``deep reflections and heartfelt'' sorrow for the damages.

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The outpouring of emotion revealed the unhealed wounds six decades after Japan's Emperor Hirohito conceded defeat in a radio broadcast, just days after the United States incinerated the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs.

Koizumi, in a written statement marking his second apology for the war to Asian neighbors this year, recognized the suffering his nation inflicted. ``Our country has caused great damages and pain to people in many countries, especially our Asian neighbors, through colonization and invasion.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5210628,00.html

[countmyvote4real]

1. Been there. Done that an hour ago.

Six LBN items down.

[Moderator]

2. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1701967