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Park, Abe to participate in receptions for normalized diplomatic ties

Xinhua, June 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plan to participate in receptions, set to be held Monday in Seoul and Tokyo respectively, to mark the 50th anniversary of the normalized diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Park's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement that President Park will make congratulatory remarks at the receptions, scheduled to be held in Seoul Monday and hosted by the Japanese government, to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

Abe will participate in the reception, slated to be held in Tokyo on the same day and hosted by the South Korean government, the office said.

The two countries normalized diplomatic relations on June 22, 1965 when Seoul and Tokyo signed the Settlement Agreement, about 20 years after the Korean Peninsula liberated from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule.

The receptions would be the biggest bilateral event since Park and Abe took office in early 2013 and in late 2012 respectively because Park has refused to sit face-to-face with Abe citing his wrong perception of history.

The Cheong Wa Dae said that the joining of the two leaders was anticipated to develop the bilateral relations in a future- oriented manner.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida agreed Sunday in Tokyo to cooperate through dialogue in listing 23 facilities of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution as World Heritage sites, Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Yun arrived in Tokyo Sunday for a two-day visit to hold ministerial talks with Kishida. The agreement between the top diplomats indicated Japan's acceptance to reflect the forced labor of Koreans during the Japanese colonial era in the facilities that Japan has been seeking to list as World Heritage sites.

In January 2014, the Abe government applied to the UNESCO World Heritage Center to list 23 facilities of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution in Kyushu, Yamaguchi and related areas as World Heritage sites.

Seven of the sites were facilities, to which some 21,900 Koreans were mobilized for forced labor during the Pacific War. At the seven facilities, 94 Koreans passed away and five were missing. Endi