Kyodo News "Japan's representative Yasukuni visit is misinformation"

Japan's Kyodo News Agency said its report that a Japanese government representative who attended the Sado mine memorial service visited Yasukuni shrine in 2022 was misleading.

Earlier, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said he understood that the government's representative, Akiko Ikuina, has not visited Yasukuni since taking office.

Kyodo News explained that Ikuina denied the fact that she visited Yasukuni and investigated the reporting process at the time, and there were reports that she saw her enter the precinct at the time, but she wrote the article without checking with her herself.

He also said that multiple Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers who visited on the same day also said there was no Ikui or a political officer, adding, "The report was judged wrong in the first place."

Kyodo News' editor-in-chief said he is deeply sorry for causing inconvenience to Ikuina, a political officer, Niigata Prefecture, Sado City, and the memorial service execution committee.

Kyodo, however, did not say whether Ikui or a political officer would pay tribute to Yasukuni shrine before 2022.