A senior Japanese official's decision to pay his respects at a controversial shrine for war dead on Wednesday has prompted an angry reaction from China and South Korea.

The visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead by Masahiro Imamura, Japan's minster for reconstruction, could also potentially mar Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's earlier historic visit to Pearl Harbor accompanied by outgoing US President Barack Obama.

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China and South Korea see the Yasukuni shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

"China is firmly against any visit by Japanese cabinet members to the Yasukuni shrine which worships class-A criminals in Second World War," Hua Chunying, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said.

Hua said that China is urging Japan to look squarely and deeply reflect upon the past history of aggression, adding that Japan should assume a responsible attitude to properly handle relevant issues.

She further urged Japan to make concrete moves to win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the world.

Abe's visit to the United States 75 years after the devastating attack of Pearl Harbor marked the first of such trip in decades by a Japanese prime minister. While in the US, Abe attended that USS Arizona memorial.

Japan's attack on the Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 led to the death of 2,403 Americans.

Some of Abe's critics noted that his visit and reconciliation with the United States are in sharp contrast with Japan's frosty relations with China and South Korea.

There is deep anger towards Japan in both China and South Korea. Many people in the two countries feel that Japan has not fully made amends for their brutal actions during World War II.

The most sensitive issue is the Japanese army's vicious attack on Nanking in 1937, which is believed to have left hundreds of thousands of Chinese dead and thousands others raped.

South Korea, on the other hand, was occupied by Japan for much of the first half of the 20th century, and the plight of the so-called comfort women, basically sex slaves who were forced to serve Japanese soldiers, is still a sore area.

TagsJapan, South Korea, china, Pearl Harbor, US, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe