TOKYO, Dec. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has discredited himself by not bankrolling a study for a new national memorial to mourn the war dead, Japan's major newspaper the Asahi Shimbun said in an editorial Wednesday.

    It was the premier who first brought up the idea of constructing an alternative war memorial, said the paper.

    In August 2001, after his first visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, Koizumi said ways should be found, so that people from home and abroad could mourn the war dead without evoking criticism, the editorial said. Koizumi committed to considering the creation of a new war memorial both when he met with then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in 2001 and when he talked with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in June 2005.

    A poll conducted after the premier's fifth visit to Yasukuni shrine in October showed that the majority of respondents supported the conception. It's both regrettable and inexplicable that Koizumi discarded the idea. His violation of commitment would damage Japan's credibility, the paper said.

    Koizumi said last Thursday that Japan would not appropriate money to a feasibility study for the construction of a new war memorial in fiscal 2006, citing divided opinions as a reason.

    Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni shrine, which honors over 2 million Japanese war dead, including 14 top convicted war criminals, have been strongly opposed by many Japanese citizens and neighboring countries.

    Many Japanese people, including a number of lawmakers, think a secular memorial should be built so that people of all religions, including the Japan's emperor and prime minister, could use it to mourn the war dead. Enditem