Japanese PM to Leave for S.Korea VisitJapan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is to leave Monday for South Korea amid thorns of history- related issues and fishing disputes between the two countries.Koizumi will meet with South Korean President Kim Dae Jung after visiting a national cemetery and a museum over atrocities committed by Japan during its past aggression and colonial occupation against Korea Peninsula. The premier is expected to apologize for the sufferings inflicted on the South Korean people by Japan. During his talk with Kim Dae Jung, Koizumi is to discuss the ongoing US-led retaliatory strikes. The fishing disputes will be also on the agenda after South Korea objected a plan by Japan and Russia to conclude an agreement, in which Russia will forgo granting third countries, such as South Korea, the right to fish for saury in waters around the disputed islands off Hokkaido, northern Japan. Japan's relations with S.Korea has deteriorated after Japanese government approved the history-distorting history textbooks for junior high school and Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors war criminals along with 2.5 million war dead. |
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