The official news agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday blasted the Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, saying such a move was designed to attempt to justify Japan's history of aggression.

The visit attempted to "justify the history of the aggression and crimes committed by Japan against those countries in the past and honor the departed souls of the militarists," said the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

It was Koizumi's sixth visit to the Yasukuni Shrine since taking office in 2001, and its impact was heightened by its timing on Aug 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender at the end of World War II.

The visit met with immediate, strong censure from China and South Korea, both nations having endured great suffering under Japan's aggression during the war.

The visit "is a grave insult and challenge to the peoples of Asian countries that fell victim to Japan's aggression", said the KCNA.

The news agency blamed the prime minister's visit for damaging the relations between the two countries, saying the continuing blatant and provocative visits have taken the DPRK-Japan ties "from bad to worse."

"Japan can never shake off its ill-fame of being recorded in the UN Charter as an enemy state, much less think of a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council," said the KCNA.

This was the first direct response of the DPRK official media since Koizumi's visit to the war shrine on Tuesday.

The Yasukuni Shrine, established in 1869 under Emperor Meiji, honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead including 14 class-A war criminals responsible for some of the most atrocious crimes during Japan's war of aggression against its Asian neighbors during World War II.

Source: Xinhua