SEOUL, Jan. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- South Korea Thursday expressed regret
over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to a controversial
shrine honoring Japanese war dead including World War II criminals.
"Our government expresses deep regret that Japanese Prime Minister
Koizumi paid homage at Yasukuni Shrine housing mortuary tablets to war
criminals who undermined world peace and inflicted intolerable damage and
pain on our people," South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil
said in a statement.
"We strongly urge him not to visit the shrine again."
It was the first time that the South Korean government directly
demanded the Japanese prime minister stop his annual shrine visit.
Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is dedicated to 2.5 million Japanese war
dead, including a number of Class-A war criminals who fought for Japan in
World War II.
Shin said that South Korea cannot understand why Japan's top leader
insists on visiting the controversial shrine despite opposition from the
South Korean government.
"We feel anger mixed with worry about the fact that the feelings of
our people were hurt again," he said.
Koizumi should respect the positions of its neighboring nations and
the feelings of their peoples if he really wants to develop friendly ties
with these countries, the spokesman added.