Japan has asked South Korea to apologize for the kidnapping of then opposition leader Kim Dae-jung in Tokyo in 1973, and take measures to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents, a report said Wednesday. Following the National Intelligence Service's announcement that former President Park Chung-hee tacitly approved the kidnapping by Korea's spy agency, Korean Ambassador to Tokyo Yu Myung-hwan briefed Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Hitoshi Kimura on the abduction, the Yonhap News report said. Expressing regret over the case, Kimura said the use of Korean state power in Tokyo was a violation of Japan's sovereignty, it said.