**SKorea Recalls Japan Ambassador over Visits to War Shrine**
South Korea has summoned Japan's ambassador in Seoul to protest recent visits by Japanese lawmakers and officials to a controversial shrine seen by many as a symbol of Tokyo's colonial past.
More than 160 lawmakers paid their respects at the Yasukuni Shrine on Wednesday. Three government ministers made a similar visit to the Shinto site in Tokyo last week.
The shrine honors 2.5 million of Japan's war dead, including some convicted war criminals from World War Two. South Korea and China, which bore the brunt of Japan's pre-war aggression, regularly protest such visits.
The South's Deputy Foreign Minister said Thursday that Japan's ambassador was recalled in protest about the visits and subsequent comments by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.