SEOUL - South Korea said on Thursday Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead was a deplorable and anachronistic act that damaged ties between the two countries.

"We cannot withhold regret and anger over the visit," said Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yoo Jin-ryong. The visit was an anachronistic act, he said.

For many South Koreans the shrine is a reminder of Japan's brutal occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.