SEOUL - South Korea on Friday deplored a group of Japanese politicians paying tribute to the notorious war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

Seoul's foreign ministry spokesman Cho June-Hyuk said in statement that some of Japanese cabinet members and a group of lawmakers paid respect again to the Yasukuni Shrine which glorifies Japan's past colonization and war of aggression and enshrines war criminals.

Cho urged the politicians to face up to history in a right way if they are responsible politicians and to show their humble introspection and sincere remorse over the past atrocities with real actions.

About 90 Japanese lawmakers, including a cabinet member, visited the controversial shrine after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made ritual offerings to the contentious place to celebrate the country's spring festival.

The ritual offerings and visits angered Japan's neighboring countries, especially China and South Korea, as the shrine is seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarist and imperialistic aggressions.

The war shrine honors the souls of about 2.5 million war dead, including 14 Class-A war criminals.

The Korean peninsula was colonized by Japan between 1910 and 1945. China suffered at the hands of Japan's brutal militarism before and during World War II.