Things are as usual with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his government: Uttering vague words and phrases about Japan’s wartime past while their actions show clearly that they intend to pursue their goal of regaining the country’s honor.

Abe’s speech at the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta on April 22 was closely watched for clues to what may be contained in his upcoming speech before the joint meeting of the U.S. Congress next week and his speech marking the 70th anniversary of end of World War II in August. As expected, Abe did not explicitly apologize for Japan’s wartime atrocities. It now seems likely that Abe’s speech to the joint session of the U.S. Congress will not contain a clear, unambiguous apology.

In his address in Jakarta, Abe expressed “heartfelt gratitude” to “friends in Asia and Africa who propelled Japan after the Second World War to make possible our reentry to the international community.” It is only later in the speech that Abe said, “And Japan, with feelings of deep remorse over the past war, made a pledge to remain a nation always adhering to those very principles throughout, no matter what the circumstances,” in reference to the principles of peaceful settlement of disputes proclaimed in Bandung, Indonesia, 60 years ago.

Also Wednesday, a bipartisan group of more than 100 Japanese lawmakers visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which houses Japan’s war dead including 14 Class-A war criminals, as part of the annual spring festival. Abe, perhaps in deference to the sensitivities surrounding the controversial visit ahead of his U.S. visit, sent an offering instead of paying his respects.

The Korean government duly expressed “deep regret” over the lack of an explicit apology for wartime atrocities in Abe’s Jakarta speech. “The government expresses deep regret over the omission of key expressions of apology and repentance over (Japan’s) colonial rule and aggressions, which Prime Minister Koizumi made clear,” the Foreign Ministry said. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, addressing the same conference in 2005, had offered a “heartfelt apology.”

Several U.S. government officials have expressed vexation with Korea and Japan’s inability to let go of history and move forward. Just as the Abe government is bent on revising its history to “regain its honor,” the Korean government is determined to obtain an unequivocal apology for its wartime and colonial aggression, including military sexual slavery.

The frustration of U.S. officials notwithstanding, building a future without proper acceptance of the past is like building a sand castle. This is why the Korean government persists in its demand for Japan’s honest recognition of its history in the face of Abe government’s exercise in ambiguity.

Having said in October 2013 that his cabinet would take the same stance on Japan’s wartime aggressions as that of past cabinets, Abe’s subsequent actions have been anything but. A week before the Jakarta speech, Abe said that he would not repeat a formal apology in the statement, and indeed he did not. Abe once said it would be unnecessary to issue a formal apology for wartime aggressions on each 10th anniversary of the end of World War II. It may be that Abe indeed will not make a formal apology come August.

Abe’s speech at the joint meeting of the U.S. Congress is a somewhat different matter. It will be the first time that a Japanese Prime Minister is addressing the group at the place where the U.S. declared war on Japan following the Pearl Harbor attack. Abe should not speak of the future relations with the U.S. without offering first a proper apology for its wartime hostilities.

As Abe prepares his speech for Washington, he should remember what German Chancellor Angela Merkel advised last month ― to face his country’s past squarely.