The Tokyo-based Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday refused to separate memorial tablets of Class-A WWII war criminals from Japan's ordinary war dead despite of proposal of domestic statesmen and strong protests from many Asian countries, Kyodo News Service reported Saturday.

"This is a matter of Japanese religious faith.... Their separate enshrinement will never happen," the shrine said in a written statement in response to questions from Kyodo.

Yasukuni Shrine's statement on a proposal to separately enshrine the 14 Class-A war criminals -- including wartime Prime Minister Gen. Hideki Tojo -- from Japan's 2.5 million war dead came as Japan's ties with China and South Korea encounter difficulties due to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Tokyo shrine.

In view of the cooling relationship of Japan with China and South Korea, some legislators of Koizumi's governing Liberal Democratic Party proposed removing the tablets of the Class-A war criminals from Yasukuni.

Among others, Hidenao Nakagawa, chairman of the LDP's Parliament Affairs Committee, said last Sunday it is desirable that the Class-A war criminals be enshrined separately from the rest of the war dead through discussions between the shrine and families of the war dead.

Five Japanese former prime ministers and House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono on Wednesday also reached an agreement urging Koizumi to halt his visits to the notorious shrine in order to avoid further worsening relations with China.

Yasuhiro Nakasone, who was unable to attend the former prime ministers' meeting, also expressed similar opinions to Kono. Moreover, the former prime minister on Friday reiterated that Koizumi should stop visiting the shrine.

Kiichi Miyazawa, Toshiki Kaifu, Tomiichi Murayama, Ryutaro Hashimoto, Yoshiro Mori all agreed on the issue in a gathering on concerns of current difficulties in Japan-China relations.

According to Asahi Shimbun's report on Saturday, Nakasone also made a suggestion to separately enshrine the Class-A war criminals and the Japanese war dead. "If the separation needs time, it is wise for Koizumi to make decision of stopping the visits during the time," Nakasone was quoted by the daily.

Nakasone, once visited shrine as prime minister, stopped the shrine visit due to protests from China, South Korea and some other Asian countries in order to no longer damage ties with the countries and hurt their people's heart.

In spite of strong protests from China and other Asian countries, Koizumi has paid four visits to the shrine since he took office in April 2001, with the latest one on New Year's Day in 2004.

He has repeatedly made chicaneries saying his visits are aimed at paying tribute to Japan's war dead, not to the Class-A war criminals, and has pledged that Japan will not wage war again.

As a widely known fact, the 14 Class-A war criminals honored at the shrine are responsible for the most atrocious crimes in Japan's war of aggression against its Asian neighbors.