South Korea regrets kidnapping

SEOUL, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- South Korea plans to offer Japan its regrets for the 1973 kidnapping of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in Tokyo, a report said Saturday.

The apology follows the recent admission that the former Korean Central Intelligence Agency was responsible for the abduction of Kim in the Japanese capital. In 1973, Kim was a dissident opposed to the regime of President Park Jung-hee who had come to power in 1961 after a military coup. Park was later assassinated.

A South Korean official told the Yonhap news agency Seoul’s ambassador will meet Japan’s foreign minister next week to “convey the government's regrets.”

Early this week, it was reported a Korean presidential panel found the KCIA, known for its brutal treatment of democratic politicians, had orchestrated Kim’s kidnapping.

The spy agency, now called the National Intelligence Agency, later admitted to the abduction, leading Japan to press for an apology from South Korea for “infringing its sovereignty,” the report said.

After his kidnapping, Kim was kept under house arrest. He was elected South Korea's president in 1997, and later won the Nobel Peace Prize for his policy of engagement with North Korea.

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