The newly appointed South Korean ambassador to Japan on Friday indirectly urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to abstain from visiting Yasukuni Shrine in August, a visit which strained Tokyo-Seoul relations last year.
Cho Se Hyung, who assumed his post last month, said that he is aware of Japanese media reports that Koizumi is unlikely to visit Yasukuni on Aug. 15, the day Japan surrendered at the end of World War II. Yasukuni honors Class A war criminals alongside the nation's war dead.
"I hope (the Yasukuni) issue will not cause an unnecessary misunderstanding and friction," he told reporters at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, adding that he hopes an alternative memorial for the nation's war dead will be established.