With the election of Shinzo Abe as prime minister, South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon said he hopes the new leader will face up to Japan's past and repair bilateral relations.
"We sincerely hope that Prime Minister Abe will learn lessons from what has transpired in Prime Minister (Junichiro) Koizumi's administration," Ban said Tuesday during an interview in New York, referring to the annual visits to Yasukuni Shrine by Abe's predecessor.
"That means he (Abe) should squarely, squarely address the past history, military issues," Ban said.