TOKYO, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Japanese and South Korean officials have agreed to narrow the lingering perception gap over Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon asked Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura to return the ashes of Korean civilians brought to Japan for forced labor during World War II, open up the country's farm market, and give South Korean tourists permanent visa waivers, Kyodo News reported Sunday.
In a visit to Japan to follow up a summit between the two nations' leaders, Ban also asked that Japan address the perception gap on its past militarism. Earlier, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun indirectly asked Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to reconsider his visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japanese war dead, including some seen as war criminals.
