TOKYO, Aug. 15 -- Japanese Internal Affairs Minister Yoshitaka Shindo visited the controversial war-linked Yasukuni Shrine on Friday on the 69th anniversary of Japan's surrender in the World War II.

Shindo's visit to the notorious shrine follows Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission Keiji Furuya's worship minutes later.

Furuya said after his visit that it is reasonable for him, as a Japanese, to pay worship to the shrine that he called as a place not to whitewash Japan's wartime history.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who reportedly will not to visit this time, worshiped to the shrine in December and triggered strong criticism worldwide.

Repeated worships to the shrine anger Japan's neighboring countries that suffered Japan's brutal aggression in wartime as 14 convicted Class-A Japanese war criminals during the WWII are enshrined here.