Leaders of Japan's opposition parties again urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to stop visiting the war-related Yasukuni Shrine after the Osaka High Court ruled the premier's Yasukuni visits unconstitutional on Friday.

Seiji Maehara, president of the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said Koizumi should not visit Yasukuni that honors Class-A war criminals and Japan should establish a non-religious national memorial for the war dead.

A senior official of Japanese Communist Party praised the ruling as a landmark for similar cases. A total of about 900 people have filed eight damages suits against the primer's shrine visits with six district courts.

He reiterated a strong urge that Koizumi should give up Yasukuni visits.

Social Democratic Party Secretary General Seiji Mataichi called on Koizumi to accept the ruling and stop visiting the shrine not only within this year but forever.

Yasukuni, a Shinto shrine in Tokyo, honors 14 Class-A World War II war criminals who are responsible for Japan's aggression war against its Asian neighbors. Japanese leaders' visits to the notorious shrine have been strongly protested by many Asian countries, particularly China and South Korea, which suffered from Japanese aggression army's atrocities during the war.

Koizumi has visited the shrine once a year since taking office in April 2001. In May, the premier indicated a plan at a parliament meeting to visit the shrine again sometime this year.

Source: Xinhua