Many Korean social media users expressed their anger towards Creatures Inc., a Japanese developer affiliated with “Pokemon” video game franchise, after its employees allegedly revealed photos worshiping the Yasukuni Shrine.

Photos uploaded on Twitter by the company on Monday show its employees worshiping at the Yasukuni Shrine. The photos are captioned, “We are worshiping at the Yasukuni Shrine to celebrate the year’s first day of work.”

The Yasukuni Shrine commemorates Japan’s war dead, including convicted war criminals. Countries which suffered the atrocities of imperial Japan’s crimes have long taken issue with those who pay tribute at Yasukuni.

Following the Japanese firm’s posting of the controversial tweet, many Koreans condemned the employees for their actions that could hurt the feelings of many Pokemon fans across the world. The tweet also spread to Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website, prompting some Chinese fans to consider boycotting Creatures Inc. products.

In the aftermath of the controversy, Creatures Inc. deleted the tweet on Monday night, but the demand for the company to issue an official apology is still circulating on social media. The word,  “Yasukuni,” is trending on Twitter Korea as of Tuesday.

Creatures Inc. is involved in all Pokemon related content and products including Pokemon Go and Detective Pikachu.

By Lee Tae-hee (taeheelee@heraldcorp.com)