Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe broke with recent tradition on Friday, the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, by pointedly declining to personally apologize for his nation's role in starting the war, even as he endorsed apologies from past prime ministers. While describing feelings of "profound grief" and recognizing that Japan had inflicted "immeasurable damage and suffering," he also stressed that "we must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize."
Apologies from Japanese prime ministers have been viewed as important by neighbors South Korea and China, which were some of the worst hurt by Japan's 20th century expansionism. China's official Xinhua news agency weighed in, finding Abe's speech to "trod a fine line with linguistic tricks."
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