SEOUL (Kyodo) Japan may hand over to South Korea cultural artifacts taken from the Korean Peninsula during the 1910-45 colonial era, a Seoul daily reported Wednesday.
The handover is to be made on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty on Aug. 29, the Chosun Ilbo said.
"The Japanese government is considering releasing a prime minister's statement to comprehensively express apology (for the colonial rule)," a diplomatic source was quoted as saying.
The source said Japan is also considering taking measures to express its remorse with actions, including the return of the cultural artifacts.
"Eighty-one collections of the 'Joseon Wangsil Uigwe,' a meticulous record of royal ceremonies and rituals that are kept at the Japanese Imperial Household Agency, are being considered to be returned before anything else," the source said.
South Korea plans to raise the handover of the collections at foreign ministerial talks with Japan that will be held on the sidelines of the Association of South-East Asian Nations Regional Forum in Hanoi on Thursday.