Japan PM Ishiba unlikely to announce view on WWII soon

Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided not to announce his view on World War II on Aug. 15, the 80th anniversary of his country’s surrender in the war, sources said this week.

Ishiba had also considered announcing the view on Sept. 2, the date when Japan signed the surrender document in 1945, but no such announcement is likely to be made that day, senior officials of the government and Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party said.

Ishiba is still seeking an appropriate time to announce his view, which would be based on the results of a review of the war.

But some expect that it would be difficult to make such an announcement, which could intensify calls for his resignation that emerged within the LDP following the party’s rout in the July 20 election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament.

Japan had issued a prime minister’s statement to mark each of the 50th, 60th and 70th anniversaries of the country’s surrender in the war. The tradition could be broken by Ishiba.