Four Japanese Cabinet members Sunday visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 notorious Class-Awar criminals who were held responsible for the country's aggression war against Asian neighbors.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi did not visit the shrine as he already did so on New Year's Day.

The four cabinet members are Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei, National Public Safety Commission chairwoman Kiyoko Ono, and Environment Minister Yuriko Koike. Lastyear, four cabinet members also visited the shrine on Aug. 15.

Class-A war criminals from World War II were added to the list of the enshrined at the shrine in 1978. It is regarded as a symbolof Japanese militarism.

Visits by Japanese leaders to the shrine have been strongly denounced by many Asian countries, including China and South Korea,which severely suffered from the aggression.

Koizumi made his fourth annual visit to the shrine on Jan. 1 this year since taking office in Apr. 2001. He said last Tuesday he would not visit the shrine Sunday, but would visit sometime next year.