Foreign Minister Choi Sung-hong has said Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine will not hinder South Korea and Japan from successfully co-hosting the World Cup finals. Choi said Thursday that Koizumi's visit to the war shrine has nothing to do with the co-hosting of the World Cup. He told Reuters that the World Cup is a promise to the global community that the two countries will jointly hold the most successful and safe global event. The South Korean government strongly protested against Koizumi's visit to the shrine ... just weeks before the kickoff of the World Cup. Koizumi also caused outrage in South Korea and China last August when he paid homage at the shrine. The Yasukuni Shrine honors Japan's two and a half million war dead, including class-A war criminals who were executed for starting a war of aggression and other atrocities at the end of the second World War.