Japan will try to make good on its promise by year's end to return centuries-old royal Korean books that the country seized during its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, Yonhap News Agency quoted Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara as saying Sunday.
In August, Prime Minister Naoto Kan pledged to return the royal books, known as "Uigwe," and other Korean cultural assets the Japanese took away during the 1910-45 colonial rule, as he issued Tokyo's latest statement of apology to mark the 100th anniversary of the colonization.
Maehara said Japan is working on the issue "with sincerity" and is trying to determine the "scope" of cultural assets to be returned. The minister also said that he will try to seek parliamentary approval for the planned return of the royal books as early as possible.
"I have a strong intention to hand over (the books) before the end of the year if possible," Maehara said in an interview Friday with a group of South Korean reporters. It was the first time that the top Japanese diplomat has held a face-to-face interview with South Korean media since he took office last month.
Uigwe, a collection of documents from the historic Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), records and illustrates procedures and formalities conducted for weddings, funerals, banquets and receiving foreign missions as well as cultural activities of the royal family.
Japan is believed to be holding 167 Uigwe books, including 81 originals, at its Imperial Household Agency, which were spirited away from a Buddhist temple in 1922. South Korea has 3,563 Uigwe books, 703 of them originals.