South Korea's political parties both government and opposition, decried Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Monday in defiance of strong opposition from Asian countries, while calling on the government to take strong countermeasures.
Ruling Millennium Democratic Party spokesman Jeon Yong-hak said the prime minister's visit to the place where the criminals of the Pacific War are enshrined is tantamount to piercing the Asian people with a knife.
Opposition Grand National Party spokesman Kwon Chunl-hyun said Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni was a big shock, for he dared to make the visit in spite of strong opposition from many Asian people and people of conscience in Japan.
Byun Ung-jun, the spokesman of the ruling coalition partner United Liberal Democrats, said Koizumi's visit to the place where criminals who forced many people to die in the war in the capacity as prime minister was an unforgivable act of justifying the war.