Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday the government has yet to decide whether to allocate funds for a new war memorial under the fiscal 2006 budget.
"The paper is blank," Koizumi told reporters at his office.
Politicians have been asking for funds for a feasibility study next fiscal year on building a secular national war memorial to help soothe tensions with China and South Korea.
Koizumi last visited the Tokyo shrine on Oct. 17, which led to the cancellation of meetings with Chinese diplomats at regional forums in South Korea, with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun this month in Tokyo, and a customary trilateral summit with China and South Korea also set for this month.
Beware Yasukuni: Ra
South Korean Ambassador to Japan Ra Jong Yil said Wednesday he was concerned that war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo will again become a symbol of Japanese nationalism and that some Japanese leaders are "rubbing salt on the wounds" Japan inflicted on Koreans, Chinese and other Asians.
Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Tokyo, Ra said the recent freeze in top-level meetings between Japan and South Korea and China damages the interests of all three parties.
He rejected Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's accusation that Beijing and Seoul were using Yasukuni as a diplomatic card.
"Most disturbing are movements . . . on the part of some influential leaders of Japan," he said.
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