South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki- moon Friday urged Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to stop his controversial visits to a shrine that honors Japan's war dead, including Class A criminals of the World War II.

"Japan holds the key to the three pending South Korea-Japan issues -- visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, history textbooks and Dokdo-- and the country (Japan) must face up to how the world views it," Ban was quoted by South Korean Yonhap News Agency as saying during a speech at a breakfast meeting.

Since taking office in 2001, Koizumi paid homage to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo every year, despite strong protests from South Korea and China.

"The Yasukuni issue can be resolved if Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stops paying his respects there," Ban said.

Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have frayed since early this year when Japan renewed its territorial claim to Dokdo, a group of rocky islets in the East Sea (Sea of Japan), which is under South Korea's effectual control by deployment of a garrison of coast police. The islets are called "Takeshima" in Japanese.

Japan's authorization of a controversial history school textbook also add fuel to the flames as the textbook is said to have whitewashed Japan's aggression past.

The Japanese prime minister has not visited the Yasukuni Shrine so far this year, but has repeatedly stated that he has no intention of discontinuing the controversial ritual.

In a separate speech Friday, Ban said Japan must understand that its attitudes and moves, such as visits to the Yasukuni Shrine and approval of revised history textbooks, are seen by South Korea as a covert attempt to justify its invasion of the Korean Peninsula.

"The only solution is for Japan to adopt a correct perception of history and reflect on its past, then back it up with action so as to prevent this kind of history from repeating itself," Ban said during a speech before an international forum on South Korea- Japan relations.

Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910-45.

Ban's remarks came before the scheduled summit between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Koizumi in late June. But exact date of the summit has not been fixed up yet.

Source: Xinhua