South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the war anniversary statement that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will issue this month should adhere to the 1995 statement, which offered an apology and described Japanese action during World War II as "aggression."
Katsuya Okada, head of the Democratic Party of Japan, told a news conference in Seoul that when he met with Park on Monday, she said "it is important" for Abe to reconfirm the 1995 statement by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama.
The Murayama statement, issued to mark the 50th anniversary of the war's end ,expressed "feelings of deep remorse" and "heartfelt apology," and acknowledged that Japan caused "tremendous damage and suffering" to the people of Asia and other countries through its "colonial rule and aggression."