DPK leader calls for future-oriented ties with Japan based on remembrance of history

Korea and Japan should work to build stronger bilateral ties while remembering their shared history, the leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea said Thursday. Rep. Kim Min-seok made the remarks during a meeting with Japanese Ambassador to Korea Koichi Mizushima at the National Assembly, noting the resumption of shuttle diplomacy between the two countries. "The essence of relations between the two countries is not forgetting the past while also placing importance on the present and building the future," Kim said. "We are realizing the ideal vision laid out and envisioned in the 1998 Kim Dae-jung-Obuchi Declaration," he said, referring to the joint declaration signed by then Korean President Kim Dae-jung and then Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi that called for overcoming the past and building new relations. Kim expressed hope the two countries will further expand cooperation in politics, the economy, culture and other areas. In response, Mizushima pledged to continue efforts to develop the "stable, future-oriented relations" between the two countries.