Valve timing is held to a position close to a target value as much as possible while suppressing control errors of valve timing even though a crankshaft rotates in reverse. In an internal combustion engine which controls the valve timing by a variable valve timing mechanism (an electric VTC) driven by an electric motor, an intake valve timing is controlled after an output of an engine stop command such that: when the engine rotates in a forward direction, a real valve timing (a VTC real angle θr) detected by a sensor is converged to a target valve timing (a VTC target angle θtrg) advanced for the time of start; and when the engine rotates in a reverse direction, a manipulated variable of the electric VTC is set so that the VTC real angle θr is held to the VTC real angle θr detected just before the detection of the reverse rotation.