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A group of people from China, South Korea and Japan held a candlelight demonstration on Friday evening in Tokyo, calling on Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to refrain from paying visit to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine before stepping down next month.

The demonstration, called "Let's light a candle of peace," was participated by representatives from China's Taiwan region, 8 South Korean lawmakers and more than 100 Japanese civil group members.

Led by the South Korean lawmakers with a big banner in their hands, the demonstration started at 8:00 PM from Hibiya Park, and marched to Chiyoda Ku's Kasumigaseki district, where most of Japanese central government ministries are located.

The demonstrators chanted slogans criticizing Koizumi's shrine visit and demanding the "return of spirits from Yasukuni of the Taiwan aboriginals and the South Korean bereaved" who have been enshrined there.

The organizing committee of the protest held a meeting in the afternoon.

South Korean lawmaker Kim Hee Sun said Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A war criminals of World War II, carried Japan's attempt to legitimize its colonial rule on the Korean Peninsular, and the purpose of the candlelight demonstration is to send a strong appeal against the shrine visit by Japanese politicians and to call on permanent peace in Asia.

Japan should reflect on its past aggression so that it will be able to truly reconcile with all victims and contribute to deep-rooted peace, Kim said.

Hundreds of thousands of aboriginals in Taiwan have suffered from Japanese militarism, said Chen Mingzhong, a representative from Taiwan, who added that the forced enshrinement of the aboriginals in Taiwan in the Yasukuni, which honors Japanese war dead, is a blasphemy of their dignity, and people in Taiwan strongly demand the return of the spirits of their ancestors.

The representatives of the candlelight protest handed in a petition to the Cabinet Office in the afternoon, calling for the stop of shrine visit by Japanese leaders.

Several Japanese civil groups gathered in front of the prime minister's official residence, urging the Japanese government to set up a correct view of history and to commit itself to building a peaceful Asia.

The candlelight demonstration will last through Monday. Fifty aboriginals from Taiwan and 170 South Korean people will join the protest from Saturday. 

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2006)