S/ Hayashi Yoshimasa, Chief Cabinet Secretary / I understand that Parliamentary Vice Minister Ikuina did not visit Yasukuni Shrine after becoming a House of Councillors member. In response to related media reports, Japan explained the facts to South Korea.

Japan's top government spokesman Hayashi Yoshimasa made these remarks on November 25 after South Korea abstained from taking part in a ceremony held the previous day in Niigata Prefecture.

The event, attended by Parliamentary Foreign Vice Minister Ikuina Akiko, was a memorial for all those who worked at the Sado Island Gold Mines in the central Japan prefecture, including Korean laborers.

South Korean media reported that the reason South Korea skipped the ceremony was that Ikuina visited the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on August 15, 2022.

Hayashi denied that Ikuina visited the Shinto shrine and expressed disappointment that South Korea did not attend the memorial.

Japan had agreed to hold the ceremony to gain support from South Korea for registering the gold mines on the UNESCO World Heritage list.