Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda on Wednesday denied remarks of a senior government official who criticized the Tokyo tribunal of Japanese war criminals after World War II.  

Masahiro Morioka, parliamentary secretary for health, labor and welfare, said Wednesday morning that the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) was wrong to consider the victors right and the losers wrong.

"What tribunal was the IMTFE? Both sides do wrong in a war. It is erroneous to label only countries that won as right and nations that lost as wrong," he told a meeting of lawmakers from various parties in Tokyo. He made a similar comment in May.

The top government spokesperson told a press conference that Morioka's remarks are different from the Japanese government's position as it has accepted the results of the tribunal.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters later in the day that Morioka "should be aware of his position" as an official in a key post of the government.

During the meeting, Morioka called on Koizumi to continue visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines 14 Class-A war criminals responsible for Japan's aggression war against its Asian neighbors.

Koizumi has paid visits once a year to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine since he took office in 2001. Last month, he indicated a plan to visit the shrine again sometime this year.

The prime minister's visits have been strongly protested by China, South Korea and other Asian countries that suffered dearly from Japanese aggression army's atrocities.

Morioka had also said in late May that Class-A war criminals convicted by the IMTFE are no longer regarded as criminals in Japan, calling the tribunal "one-sided."

(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2005)