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 Abe, marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two,
also said he upheld past official apologies including a landmark
1995 statement by then-premier Tomiichi Murayama, but the
conservative leader offered no new apology of his own.
The legacy of the war still haunts relations with China and South
Korea, which suffered under Japan's sometimes brutal occupation and
colonial rule before Tokyo's defeat in 1945.
Beijing and Seoul had made clear they wanted Abe to stick to the
1995 "heartfelt apology" for suffering caused by Tokyo's "colonial
rule and aggression".
"Upon the innocent people did our country inflict immeasurable
damage and suffering," Abe said in a statement. "When I squarely
contemplate this obvious fact, even now, I find myself speechless
and my heart is rent with the utmost grief."
The remarks by Abe, who is seen by critics as a revisionist who
wants to play down the dark side of Japan's wartime past, will be
closely analyzed in China and South Korea, and parsed by ally the
United States, which wants to see an easing of tensions in the
region.
 CYCLE OF APOLOGIES
Abe's conservative political allies, however, have urged him to end
what they see as a humiliating cycle of apologies that distracts
from Japan's post-war record of peace.
"In Japan, the post-war generations now exceed 80 per cent of its
population. We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even
further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war,
be predestined to apologize," he said. "Still, even so, we Japanese,
across generations, must squarely face the history of the past."
Abe, who referred to the wartime sufferings of the Chinese in his
statement, said he hoped Beijing would recognize Japan's "candid
feelings" and that he hoped to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping if
the opportunity arose.
But he told the news conference that attempts to "change the status
quo by force" were unacceptable. Tokyo and Beijing are feuding over
tiny East China Sea isles, while Japan is also wary of China's
military assertiveness in the South China Sea.
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Abe said Japan should "never forget that there were women behind the
battlefields whose honor and dignity were severely injured".
But he made no direct reference to "comfort women", as the women,
many of them Korean, forced into prostitution at Japanese wartime
military brothels are euphemistically known.
Tokyo and Seoul have long been at odds over the issue of comfort
women, with South Korea saying Japan has not done enough to atone
for their suffering despite a 1993 apology that recognized
authorities' involvement in coercing the women.
Abe said that Japan took the "wrong course and advanced along the
road to war", but his statement did not specifically refer to what a
report by his own advisers had called Tokyo's "aggression" in China
after 1931.
Abe told the news conference that the question of whether a specific
act was "aggression" should be left to historians.
Abe's statement comes as he pushes for a more robust defense policy
through measures domestic critics say violate Japan's pacifist
constitution. Public doubts about the bills have triggered a slide
in Abe's ratings to below 40 percent.
Washington has welcomed the changes, which Abe says are needed to
meet new challenges, including a more assertive China.
(Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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