WORLD IN BRIEF : JAPAN : Peace Pledge Marks War Memorial Rites

Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, in a speech commemorating the end of World War II 45 years ago, said Japan will never again wage war. “We will never repeat the catastrophes of war, and each of us has been given the important duty of helping establish lasting peace,” Kaifu told the crowd of about 7,000 at a service in Tokyo. Before the service, 13 of the 21 Cabinet ministers visited the Yasukuni Shrine, Japan’s main monument to its 2.6-million war dead and a symbol of its militarism to China, South Korea and other countries. Kaifu, who has cultivated a pacifist image, said he would not visit the shrine this year out of respect for Japan’s Asian neighbors.