Kishida sends offerings to controversial Yasukuni Shrine: report

SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Yonhap) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday sent offerings to a controversial war shrine for the first time since taking office this month, a news report said.

Kishida sent a "masakaki" tree to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo to celebrate its two-day Autumn festival that runs through Monday, according to Japan's Kyodo news agency.

It marked the first time Kishida has sent an offering to the shrine, seen as a symbol of the country's past militarism, since he took office earlier this month, though he stopped short of visiting in person.

Yasukuni Shrine honors Japanese war dead, including 14 Class-A criminals from World War II. Japanese politicians' visits to the shrine have angered South Korea and China, which suffered from Japanese aggression in the early part of the 20th century.

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