Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki suggested Tuesday the 14 Class-A war criminals enshrined in Yasukuni Shrine should be separated from the war dead honored there, but he also said the shrine must decide this matter.

Tanigaki, expected to declare his candidacy Thursday for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's September presidential election, noted the opposition to honoring the Class-A war criminals together with the war dead, saying, "I think that really hits the point."

The Sept. 20 LDP election, whose winner will become prime minister, may make Japan's "abnormal" political relations with China and South Korea, and ways to improve them, a major focus, Tanigaki said.

Relations with the two nations have soured in part due to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's yearly visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which they say honors Japan's militarist past.

China and South Korea object to the inclusion of the 14 Class-A war criminals with the 2.5 million war dead commemorated at the Tokyo shrine.

Tanigaki, however, said the Shinto shrine is a religious entity and, as a Cabinet minister who must uphold the principle of the separation of religion and state, he cannot meddle in Yasukuni's affairs or directly comment on what the shrine should do regarding the Class-A war criminals.

Tanigaki hinted last week that he will not visit the shrine if he becomes prime minister.