Katsuya Okada, president of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, on Tuesday reiterated that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi should stop his visits to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. 

Okada told reporters that Koizumi should correctly handle his failure of trying to reach common ground on the issue of the Yasukuni visits with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in their summit talks in Seoul on Monday.

"Koizumi should make political decision helpful to improve Japan-South Korea relations," Okada said, urging the premier to stop the visits or resign.

Okada also criticized Koizumi's stance on the Yasukuni visits, saying the premier's insistence on the issue leads to the cooling Japan-South Korea relations and has damaged Japanese people's benefits.

Koizumi has paid visits once a year to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A war criminals responsible for Japan's past aggression war against its Asian neighbors, since he took office in 2001. Last month, he indicated a plan to visit the shrine again sometime this year.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2005)