TOKYO ¡ª Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said Sunday the next premier should stay away from a controversial war shrine to mend fraying ties with China and South Korea.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. [file]

And a former Japanese government spokesman also sharply criticized Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi over visits to a Tokyo war shrine which have triggered a regional diplomatic crisis, a national newspaper said on Sunday.

Two members of Mori's faction within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda, are preparing for a party leadership election in September, when inbumbent Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi steps down.

The leader of the ruling party automatically becomes the prime minister because it holds most seats in parliament.

Since he came to power in 2001, Koizumi has annually visited the Yasukuni shrine, which honors 2.5 million war dead including 14 top war criminals and is seen by China and South Korea as a symbol of militarism.

"If it's important to improve (the relations with South Korea and China), it's better not to go¡± to the shrine, Mori said in a television talk show.

Koizumi says that his visits are to honor all victims of war and recommit Japan to pacifism. But they have infuriated victims of Japan's wartime aggression, particularly China and South Korea.

"Prime Minister Koizumi says it's a matter of spirituality. But that has become a matter of politics. This does not benefit Japan's national interest,¡± Mori said.

Abe, chief cabinet secretary and seen as a front-runner to succeed Koizumi, has said visits to the shrine will not be part of his political platform.