SEOUL, March 16 (UPI) -- Japan may need to commit to more apologies for its colonization of the Korean Peninsula before South Korea's president agrees to visit, officials said.
During Japan's 1910-45 rule, more than a million Koreans were conscripted into the workforce and the military or were enslaved as prostitutes.
A 1965 treaty normalized relations between the two countries and in 1995 then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama apologized for the atrocities.
A gesture compatible with the 1995 statement should be offered by Japan, especially since this year marks the 100th anniversary of the occupation, a senior official in President Lee Myung-bak's office told Yonhap news agency on the condition of anonymity.
A decision on when Lee will travel to Japan is expected within the next few weeks, Yonhap reported Tuesday.
