Japan PM says may drop direct apology in WWII statement

Japan's leader Shinzo Abe risked Chinese and Korean ire April 21 by sending an offering to a controversial war shrine, and saying he may not repeat a formal apology for the country's World War II rampage.

Abe, an unabashed nationalist, made a symbolic donation to Yasukuni Shrine, the supposed repository of the country's war dead, including 14 of the most infamous war criminals.
 
The gifting of a sakaki tree -- sacred in native Shintoism -- appeared to indicate that Abe would not visit Yasukuni during the three-day Spring festival, which begins April 21.
 
Nevertheless, Beijing and Seoul, which view the shrine as a symbol of Japan's unrepentance over wartime wrongs, are likely to be angered by the offering at a time focus is increasingly on a statement Abe will make marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
 
Observers are watching whether he will make direct reference to his country's "colonial rule and aggression" and express "remorse" and "apology", as previous premiers did on the 50th and 60th anniversaries.
 
For China and South Korea, which suffered under the yoke of Japan's imperial ambition -- the terms are a crucial marker of Tokyo's acceptance of guilt for its march across Asia in the 1930s and 1940s, which left millions dead.
 
Abe suggested in a TV interview broadcast late April 20, that provided he says he agrees with previous statements: "I don't think I need to write it again".
 
Beijing and Seoul vociferously argue that Tokyo has not properly atoned for its warring and insist that a landmark 1995 statement expressing deep remorse must stand.
 
But Abe wants Japan to have what he says is a less masochistic view of its history, and has caused waves by quibbling...