The Republic of Korea (ROK)'s Foreign Ministry expressed "regret" Wednesday over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's remarks on the enshrinement of Class A war criminals with other war dead at Yasukuni Shrine.  

The ministry's spokesman, Shin Bong-kil, stressed that "proper" understanding of the past formed the foundation of ROK-Japanese relations, and it must be remembered that the Class-A war criminals among those honored at Yasukuni Shrine caused immeasurable suffering to the ROK people, reported ROK's Yonhap News Agency.

Japan forcefully annexed the Korean Peninsula in 1910 and ruled it until 1945, with many of those listed as war criminals and enshrined in Yasukuni taking active part in the colonial government.

The statement from the ministry came following a remark from the Japanese prime minister Tuesday, who said that he did not feel any opposition to the enshrinement of all war dead at the sacred shrine. He then said that expressing respect to the dead was a natural feeling, and that he had no intention of changing this view because of comments made by other countries.

The Japanese prime minister also paid a respect to the Yasukuni Shrine in the first day of 2004, which also triggered great anger among ROK people.

(Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2004)