Japanese law enforcement officials have denied news reports that cast suspicion on a South Korean national for a recent explosion at a Tokyo war shrine, police said Thursday.
Japanese police have not yet identified the suspect who caused the blast at the Yasukuni Shrine on Nov. 23, and thus do not have a plan to collaborate with South Korean authorities, an official from the National Police Agency said, quoting a Japanese official.
There has been speculation from Japanese news media that a man caught on surveillance cameras right after the explosion was a South Korean in his 30s and that he had returned to South Korea.
South Korea and China view the Yasukuni Shrine — which honors over 2.4 million war dead, including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals — as a symbol of Japan’s past imperialism.
The Foreign Ministry said it is closely monitoring related media reports and Japan’s investigation into the case.
“We have not yet been formally informed of the results of the investigation or received a request for cooperation from the Japanese government,” ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said during a press briefing. (Yonhap)
