Japanese political leaders on Tuesday criticized Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Japanese Class-A war criminals from World War II, reported Kyodo News.

Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine is hard to understand from abroad, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki told reporters.

Takenori Kanzaki, leader of the New Komeito party, the coalition partner of Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, expressed his regret over the visit.

"It is quite regrettable because (the visit came) on the symbolic day of Aug. 15," he told reporters following Koizumi's visit.

Koizumi, in total disregard of international criticism, paid his sixth visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday morning, the very day that marks the 61th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II.

The Yasukuni Shrine honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead including about 1,000 convicted war criminals from World War II, 14 of whom were wartime leaders, convicted by an Allied tribunal as "Class A" war criminals.

The war dead including war criminals honored there were responsible for the most atrocious crimes during Japan's war of aggression against its Asian neighbors.

Koizumi's visits to the shrine have been denounced by countries which suffered Japan's war of aggression before and during World War II. His previous visits have chilled Japan's relations with neighboring China and South Korea.

Source: Xinhua