Japan court rejects suit over Koizumi shrine visit

TOKYO, Mar 15 (Reuters) A Japanese court rejected today a suit demanding compensation for stress caused by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit in 2004 to a Tokyo war shrine that critics consider a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Koizumi's annual visits to the Yasukuni shrine, where 14 Class A war criminals are honoured alongside 2.5 million war dead, have been a major factor chilling ties with China and South Korea, where memories of Japan's wartime aggression run deep.

The 86 plaintiffs, mainly families of Japanese war dead, had demanded a total 10,000 yen each in symbolic damages from the government, the prime minister and the shrine for ''mental anguish'' caused by Koizumi's visit on January 1, 2004.

The Matsuyama District Court, in south-western Japan, avoided judgment on claims by the plaintiffs that Koizumi's visit had violated the separation of church and state mandated by the constitution -- an outcome similar to that of previous suits.

Koizumi has repeatedly said he goes to the shrine, which he last visited in October, to pray for peace, and the government argued in court that his visit had been made as a private individual and not in his official capacity as prime minister.

''This ruling was common sense,'' he told reporters.

Many Japanese oppose the shrine visits because they argue it violates the constitutional separation of religion and state and glorifies those who led the nation into a mistaken war, as well as out of concern for the impact on diplomatic ties. Many suits have been filed in the past, most of them similarly rejected.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao today said the biggest stumbling block to bilateral ties was Koizumi's Yasukuni visits, and that if the issue was not solved it would be difficult for those ties to develop smoothly.

Reuters SHR BD1822