South Korea protests as Tomomi Inada, Japan’s defence minister, pays homage at Yasukuni memorial where those honoured include leaders of wartime atrocities. Japan’s defence minister, Tomomi Inada, has provoked anger in South Korea following a visit to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo, a day after she accompanied the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, on his reconciliatory trip to Pearl Harbor.

South Korea’s foreign ministry denounced as “deplorable” Inada’s visit to Yasukuni, a site it said “beautifies past colonial invasions and invasive war and honours war criminals”.

The defence ministry in Seoul said: “We express deep concern and regret over Japan’s defence minister visiting Yasukuni shrine, even as our government has been emphasising the need to create a new, forward-looking South Korea-Japan relationship.”