North Korea denounces Japanese premier's offering to war shrine

North Korea has denounced Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for making a ritual offering to the controversial war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, saying it "again" demonstrated Japan's "pursuit of militarization."

The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issued the criticism in a commentary on Saturday, denouncing the action as "the road to militarization," saying they would only precipitate the "ruin of all of Japan."

The KCNA claimed that Japan is in the final stage of legal, institutional and military preparations for a continental invasion, referring to the country's recent launch of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) Joint Operation Command and constitutional revisions.

"The revision of Japan, which has systematically and extensively pushed forward with its political and military rearmament for decades since its defeat, is approaching as the reality, not expectation," the KCNA said.

On Tuesday last, around 70 lawmakers from various political parties paid a visit to the shrine during a three-day spring festival.

Ishiba sent the ritual offering to the shrine on Monday.

China and South Korea have already lodged a protest over Ishiba's action.

The Yasukuni Shrine was built in 1869 by Emperor Meiji and was dedicated to the Japanese soldiers who died in the wars since the Meiji restoration. It now honors 2.5 million war dead, including 14 convicted war criminals from World War II.

The shrine has long been a source of diplomatic tension between Japan and its neighbors, particularly South Korea and China, which view visits as a sign of Japan's failure to fully acknowledge its wartime past.

Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula before World War II and launched a military invasion of China.

Conservative Japanese politicians have faced criticism for allegedly downplaying previous government statements of remorse.