The repeated visits to a shrine, by the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, could hamper efforts in maintaining peace in Northeast Asia, the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirajuda said on Tuesday.

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 after he took office in 2001.

"The visit of Japanese prime minister and other officials in Japan (to the shrine) does not help the efforts to reduce tensions in Northeast Asia," Wirajuda said.

The foreign minister expressed hope that this problem could be settled, for future peace in Asia and the Pacific region.

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