China and South Korea on Tuesday strongly protested Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's sixth visit to Yasukuni Shrine, calling it an action that undermines bilateral ties and challenges international justice.

"The Chinese government expresses strong protest toward this measure, which hurts the feelings of people in countries that were victims of Japanese militarists' war of invasion, and damages the political basis for Sino-Japanese relations," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued in Beijing. The visit "challenges international justice and tramples (on) the conscience of mankind."

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing summoned Japanese Ambassador Yuji Miyamoto to the ministry and lodged a formal protest.

Koizumi ignored the concerns of the international community, especially Japan's Asian neighbors, and obstinately visited the shrine, an action China severely condemns, Li told Miyamoto at the outset of the meeting that was open to the media.

Miyamoto told Li that Koizumi does not visit the shrine to honor the 14 Class-A war criminals enshrined there alongside more than 2 million war dead, and that he is ready to try to resolve any misunderstandings on that point, the Japanese Embassy said in a statement after the meeting.

Meanwhile, the South Korean Foreign Ministry expressed "deep disappointment and indignation" over Koizumi's visit, calling in Japan's ambassador in Seoul to protest.

Ambassador Shotaro Oshima was summoned to appear at the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry at 11 a.m. to receive the protest, embassy officials said.

"We find it deeply regrettable that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine despite the (South) Korean government's repeated requests (for him not to do so)," First Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung Hwan told Oshima.

Koizumi has "strained South Korea-Japan relations and damaged friendly and cooperative ties in Northeast Asia," the ministry said in a statement.