A senior Japanese official has said that Prime Minister Koizumi's Yasukuni Shrine visit is not a Japanese internal affair.  

Hidenao Nakagawa, a senior lawmaker with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, made the remarks in a Fuji TV program on Sunday. He said that it is not right to regard Chinese criticism over Koizumi's visits as an interference with Japanese internal affairs.

He also suggested that the country's wartime leaders be buried separately from other war dead, as a way to reduce tension with China.

On the same day, Nakagawa Hidenao, another senior Liberal Democratic Party official, proposed that the Shrine puts the Class-A war criminals in a separate place.

Sino-Japanese relations have been chilled by a series of disputes led by a row over Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni shrine, where convicted Class-A war criminals are honored along with 2.5 million military war dead.

The controversy stems from the fact that Yasukuni, in 1978, officially added 14 "Class A'' war criminals, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, to those honored at the shrine.

Nearly three out of every five Japanese in a poll published by Kyodo news agency Saturday said they believe Koizumi should not visit Yasukuni this year.  

Editor: Yan