South Korean President-elect Park Geun Hye on Friday told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's special envoy, Fukushiro Nukaga, that her country wants to build good ties with Japan while not neglecting lingering historical issues.
His meeting with Park comes as Japan and South Korea — both under new leadership — appear keen to mend diplomatic ties that have deteriorated badly since departing President Lee Myung Bak's unprecedented visit to the South Korean-controlled Takeshima Islands in August. The rocky outcroppings in the Sea of Japan are administered by South Korea's North Gyeongsang Province and called Dokdo.
Park, set to take office in February, was quoted by Nukaga as saying that she wants to re-establish conciliatory and cooperative ties between the two sides at the same time as they face up to the past, an apparent reference to a host of historical issues that have plagued bilateral relations since Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.