US lawmaker concerned about Japan PM shrine visits

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to a controversial Tokyo war shrine raise questions about his suitability to speak to the US Congress, a senior American lawmaker said.

Henry Hyde, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on International Relations, raised concerns about Koizumi's shrine visits in a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert in late April, a spokesman for Hyde said today.

''It is a letter in which the chairman does raise concerns about the efficacy of an invitation to the Japanese prime minister, who continues to make controversial visits to the Yasukuni shrine,'' said the spokesman.

The speaker's office confirmed receiving the letter but had no further comment on its contents or on a possible invitation to Koizumi to address Congress when the Japanese leader visits the United States in June.

The spokesman declined to discuss contents of the letter, parts of which were published by Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper today.

The Asahi quotes the letter from Hyde, an Illinois Republican and World War Two veteran, as calling for assurances from Koizumi the Japanese leader would not visit Yasukuni soon after making a speech to a joint session of Congress during his US visit.

The shrine is seen in Asia as a symbol of Japanese militarism because convicted war criminals are honored there among Japan's 2.5 million war dead. Koizumi has visited Yasukuni each year since taking office in 2001.

According to the Asahi, Hyde warned that a visit to Yasukuni would be an affront to older Americans who remember World War Two and would dishonor the site in Congress where President Franklin D.

Roosevelt made his ''day of infamy'' speech after the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Hyde, who saw combat with the US Navy in the Philippines, has supported the U.S. alliance with Japan. Under Koizumi, Japan has dispatched troops to Iraq and strengthened overall security cooperation with the United States.

Last year, he voiced concerns about Koizumi's Yasukuni visits and his committee held a hearing on tensions in Japan's ties with China and South Korea over the shrine issue.

REUTERS PG PM0326