Taiwan leader criticizes Japanese administration's shrine visit

Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou criticized Japanese leaders' visit to the Yasukuni shrine last year, likening the move to "rubbing salt into others' wounds", in an article posted on his personal Facebook page on Sunday.

In the article narrating his recent visit to a former "comfort woman", Ma Ying-jeou said the Japanese leaders' Yasukuni visit revealed their apparent unrepentance to the mischief "comfort women" of its neighboring countries suffered, which was regretful.

Ma added, 69 years have passed since the end of the World War II, yet the wounds left on those "comfort women" are indelible. The existence of "comfort women" keeps reminding Asian countries of the horrible crimes the Japanese invaders committed.

Ma paid his third visit to 93-year-old Cheng Chen-tao on Saturday in southern Taiwan's Pingtung county, after his previous visits in 2009 and 2012 respectively. Cheng is one of the five former "comfort women" who remain alive on the island.

Previously, Ma said he is not only disappointed, but also puzzled by the Japanese leader's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.

The Yasukuni shrine honors Japanese war dead including convicted World War II war criminals. Hundreds of thousands of women in Asia were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese invaders during that time.