Tokyo ? Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologized Monday for Japan’s wartime colonization and invasions on the 60th anniversary of its surrender in World War II, and he stayed away from a shrine criticized for glorifying the aggression that provoked two atomic bombings.

The war’s legacy lingers in Asia, where many of Japan’s neighbors accuse Tokyo of failing to atone fully for invading them and colonizing the Korean peninsula and Taiwan. The issue has stirred opposition to Japan’s bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

China called on Tokyo to face up to its wartime aggression and urged Koizumi not to visit the Yasukuni war shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead, including executed war criminals.

In Seoul, South Korea, a joint delegation from the Koreas denounced Tokyo after visiting a prison where Korean independence fighters were tortured and executed during Japanese rule.

Protesters in Hong Kong, which Japan occupied in 1941-1945, marched on the Japanese consulate, chanting, “Japan’s hands are full of fresh blood!”

Emperor Akihito, the son of wartime Emperor Hirohito, and other Japanese officials gathered at an assembly hall for a moment of silence.

Koizumi’s apology was his second statement of regret for the war to Asian neighbors this year.

“Our country has caused great damages and pain to people in many countries, especially our Asian neighbors, through colonization and invasion,” Koizumi said in a statement distributed to reporters at a daily morning briefing.

“We humbly accept these historic facts, and would like to express once again our deep reflections and heartfelt apology, and also express our condolences to all victims of the war, both at home and abroad.

“We will not forget the terrible lessons of the war, and will contribute to world peace and prosperity.”

His statement mirrored the apology issued in 1995 on the 50th anniversary of the war’s end by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama. That statement was criticized in Asia as being insufficient.

Koizumi made a similar apology at an Asian summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, in April, hoping to quell anti-Japanese protests in China triggered by the approval of history textbooks that critics say whitewashed Japanese wartime atrocities.

At the Yasukuni shrine, thousands of Japanese thronged the grounds to pay their respects to fallen soldiers. The shrine contains lists of 2.4 million fighters who died in wars starting in the late 1800s.

Koizumi has gone there to worship four times since his election in 2001, the last time in January 2004. But he did not go Monday, telling reporters he used “appropriate judgment.”

But two of his Cabinet ministers and 47 lawmakers were among the thousands of war veterans, families of fallen soldiers and patriotic Japanese who bowed deeply at the shrine starting early Monday.

Another minister went Sunday.

“I come here every year to honor the spirits of those who died,” said Kihei Usuki, 80, who served with the Japanese army in Malaya during the war.

Like many there, he believed that Koizumi should have paid his respects Monday, but he acknowledged that pressure from China and other critics likely would prevent that.