Japanese Prime Minister leaves for Kolkata

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday left for Kolkata on the second leg of his three-day visit to India.

New Delhi, Aug 23 : Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday left for Kolkata on the second leg of his three-day visit to India.

Abe will meet Prasanta Pal, son of Indian judge Radhabinod Pal, who opposed the punishing of Japanese war criminals convicted by an Allied tribunal, a move that was criticised by other Asia countries after the end of the Second World War.

An editorial last week in Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's biggest newspaper, criticised Abe's meeting in an editorial, saying that it was aimed at claiming innocence for the war criminals.

Japanese media have said Abe's call on Pal, 81, who accompanied his father on a trip of Japan in 1966, in Kolkata could fray improving relations with China, which suffered under Japan's military aggression in the early 20th century.

Pal, was the only one on the eleven-judge Allied panel to voice dissent, saying that the tribunal at the end of World War Two was judgment of the vanquished by the victors.

Pal senior, however, said there was overwhelming evidence of atrocities committed by the Japanese military.

He is revered by Japanese nationalists and a monument dedicated to him even stands on the grounds of the Yasukuni Shrine, seen by many in Asia as a symbol of Japan's wartime militarism.

Abe's grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, the late Prime Minister, was listed as a war criminal, but never tried by the U.S. authorities.

Abe has rejected suggestions that his meeting with Pal would invite protests from Asian neighbours. Japanese officials point out how he has moved swiftly to mend ties with China and South Korea, visiting the two countries within weeks of taking office last September.

The Prime Minister has also stayed away from visiting Yasukuni, where some convicted war criminals are honoured along with the nation's war dead and has stuck to a strategy of refusing to say whether he will visit Yasukuni while in office.

Ties with Beijing and Seoul turned frosty under Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, mainly due to his annual visits to Yasukuni.

A senior Japanese government official said it was a "courtesy call" and that the visit had no "political purpose".

The official emphasised that eastern India was an important focus of investment for Japan.

Abe set off a furore in March after saying there was no proof the Japanese government or military had forced women -- mostly Asian -- to work in World War Two brothels, and the meeting could rekindle debate about his views on wartime history.

The 52-year-old leader has reiterated that he stands by a 1993 government apology to the women, but Abe, the first Japanese Prime Minister born after the war, has in the past questioned the legitimacy of the Allied tribunal.

Abe is wrapping up his three-day visit to India, which was designed to boost trade between Asia's largest and third-largest economies and counter China's growing strength.

ANI