Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday released a statement marking 70 years since the end of World War II.

The statement had been watched closely by neighboring countries on whether it would include an apology for Japan’s wartime acts as expressed by its past leaders. Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who issued a groundbreaking statement in 1995, had also called on Mr. Abe to sincerely apologize for the country’s wartime aggression.

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