Korea on Monday slammed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s defense of political leaders’ visits to the country’s controversial war shrine, reiterating its demand that Japan correct its understanding of history.

In an interview with the Foreign Affairs magazine, Abe likened the Yasukuni Shrine to a military cemetery just outside Washington, saying it will be “quite natural” for him to commemorate the deceased veterans. The Arlington National Cemetery is home to some 400,000 fallen U.S. troops from the Civil War to battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The Yasukuni Shrine is a facility that enshrines together war criminals and glorifies a war of aggression. As I’ve said repeatedly, our government clearly opposes worshipping at the shrine,” Foreign Ministry Cho Tai-young told a news briefing.

The Tokyo-based temple honors about 2.5 million Japanese war dead including top World War II criminals responsible for massacres, sex slavery, forced labor and other atrocities.

“To repeat once again, wrong is wrong. And those who did wrong must admit their errors and after that they need to act accordingly,” Cho said.

“We urge one more time Japan’s responsible figures to listen carefully to this.”

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se also expressed concerns over Tokyo’s accelerating shift to the right, adding to North Korea’s nuclear brinkmanship that has rattled the regional security landscape.

“Along with the grave situation on the Korean Peninsula due to North Korea’s nuclear threats, some Northeast Asian country’s retrogressive behavior is keeping us on alert at all times,” he told an annual meeting in Seoul of heads of overseas diplomatic missions.

His warning comes after Abe defended visits to Yasukuni, saying it is not to endorse slavery but venerate “the souls of those who lost their lives in the service of their country.”

“Let me humbly urge you to think about your own place to pay homage to the war dead, Arlington National Cemetery, in the United States. The presidents of the United States go there, and as Japan’s prime minister, I have visited,” he told the American magazine.

“I think it’s quite natural for a Japanese leader to offer prayer for those who sacrificed their lives for their country, and I think this is no different from what other world leaders do.”

In another inflammatory move, Japan Restoration Party co-leader and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto on Sunday denied the so-called “comfort women” were sex slaves and said other countries ran similar programs.

He fueled criticism last week also from Washington, a key ally of Tokyo, after saying the Japanese military’s sexual abuse of Asian women during wartime was “necessary.”

Seoul’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the remarks as “preposterous,” saying it “insulted the dignity of women, distorted history and defended crimes against humanity.”

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)