Singapore said on Tuesday, the repeated visits by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a war shrine, would hamper closer relations and cooperation in East Asia.

Despite strong criticism at home and from neighboring Asian countries, Koizumi visited the Yasukuni Shrine Tuesday morning. It was Koizumi's sixth visit to the shrine since taking office in 2001.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Singapore regretted Koizumi's visit to the shrine as prime minister.

"These visits are both a Japanese domestic issue and an international diplomatic concern," the statement also said.

It said that the Singapore government's position on such visits has been articulated many times and remains unchanged.

Such visits have and will continue to provoke strong reactions in China, South Korea and other parts of Asia, according to the statement.

"They are not helpful to the larger common interest of building closer relations and cooperation in East Asia, including Southeast Asia," the statement read.

"We hope that this larger common interest, which Japan undoubtedly shares will not be overlooked by Japan," it added.

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.

Source: Xinhua