South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said Tuesday that Emperor Akihito must apologize for Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula if he wants to visit South Korea.

"I have said (the Emperor) may come here if he is willing to apologize from his heart to those who died fighting for independence," Lee said in a meeting with teachers in North Chungcheong Province, according to the presidential office.

He made the remarks the day before South Korea's Liberation Day, which marks independence from Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule.