Korean, Japanese Foreign Ministers Meet Today
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan began his four-day trip to Japan Thursday to discuss closer ties with Japan, a ministry spokesman said.
Yu will meet with his Japanese counterpart Masahiko Komura today on ways to boost bilateral cooperation in economy, international security and the nuclear problem with North Korea, said the spokesman.
The two foreign ministers will also discuss details on the upcoming summit between President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda slated for April 20-21.
On Friday, Yu will attend an informal ministerial meeting called to prepare for the group of Eight (G-8) summit to be held in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido in July.
President Lee has pledged efforts to build a ``future-oriented'' relationship with Japan with a pragmatic approach instead of being caught up in disputes over history.
``South Korea and Japan should also try to foster a future-oriented relationship with a pragmatic attitude,'' Lee said last month in his speech marking the 89th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement against Japanese colonial rule of Korea (1910-1945) in 1919. ``Historical truth must not be ignored, but we can no longer afford to give up our future due to disputes over the past.''
Lee's approach toward Japan contrasted with those of his liberal predecessors who had criticized Tokyo for not facing up to its colonial past and demanded Japan apologize and prove its repentance with action.
Japanese political leaders have visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine honoring war criminals responsible for heinous atrocities during World War II, despite strong protests from Seoul and Beijing, which view the shrine as a symbol of Japan's unrepentant militarism.
Japan has also laid claim to Dokdo, South Korea's easternmost islets. The Tokyo government approved right-wing textbooks in 2005 that whitewashed Japanese wartime atrocities, such as forced labor and the sexual slavery of South Korean and other Asian women, euphemistically called ``comfort women,'' for Japanese soldiers.