S.Korea demands Japan's attitude change toward history for potential summit

South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday called for Japan to change its attitude toward history to make possible a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Park said in her third-year New Year's press conference that" there is no reason not to hold a summit"with Abe, but she noted that the potential summit should become a meaningful one that move the bilateral relations a step forward.

Park cited the past case, in which the Seoul-Tokyo summit boosted expectations for the improved ties but actually worsened it, without elaborating on what the case was.

Japan's attitude change toward history would be important for the summit to be actually held, Park stressed. Talks have been held among director general-level diplomats between the two countries over the comfort woman issue, but a right atmosphere has not been formed to hold a summit with Japan, Park said.

The comfort women refers to South Korean women coerced into sex slavery for the Japanese Imperial Army during the World War . According to historians, at least 200,000 women from the Korean Peninsula, China, Indonesia and the Philippines were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese forces.

In South Korea, almost all the victims already passed away, with only 54 still alive. The director general-level talks over the sexual slavery issue have been deadlocked, and Park has rejected to sit down face-to-face with Abe for his wrong perception of history.

The first South Korean woman leader said that victims of Japan' s sexual enslavement are at the grand old age so the comfort women issue could not be resolved permanently, resulting in a historical scar on Japan itself.

Park said this year marks the 50th anniversary of normalized diplomatic ties between Seoul and Tokyo, urging the Abe cabinet to take this opportunity to seek new, future-oriented relations based on right perception of history. Endi