 The Education Minister at the time, Yoshinobu Shimamura, told reporters he was unsure whether repeated apologies were useful and that Japan had not necessarily been the aggressor in the war.However, he quickly apologized and retracted his comments after meeting protests from the public population and other Asian countries.The perceptions of the South Koreans grew suspicious about the credibility of the statement as the means of reconciliation were not ensured in concrete measures, neither did they feel that it was met.