Korea rejects Koizumi visit

Koizumi's visit to the war shrine has triggered protests from Korea and China

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea says Japan's Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, will not be welcome there until Tokyo addresses Korean sensitivities over history.

In response to statements that Koizumi wanted to visit to sort out Tokyo's spat with its Asian neighbors, South Korea spelled out conditions for a meeting with President Kim Dae-jung.

"The Japanese government must show its very sincere attitude toward solving the problem on the basis of the 1995 Murayama statement and the 1998 bilateral declaration on relations in the 21st century," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

In 1995 Socialist Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama expressed "deep remorse" for Tokyo's acts of aggression against its Asian neighbors. Three years later, Japan apologized during a visit to Tokyo by Kim for its harsh 35-year colonial rule over Korea.

Koizumi angered much of Asia this month by visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors the country's war dead and convicted war criminals.

South Korea and China suffered most under Japan's wartime aggression.

The spokesman said any Kim-Koizumi meeting, in Seoul or on the sidelines of coming international gatherings, also required addressing South Korean anger over a new history textbook which critics say glosses over Tokyo's wartime aggression.

Japan's Education Ministry approved the revisionist textbook in April and Tokyo further angered South Korea and China last month when it rejected calls for major changes to the text.

Seoul says the history book tries to justify Japan's invasion of much of Asia in the 20th century and fails to mention crucial details such as the plight of so-called "comfort women" forced to serve as sex slaves to troops.

"Our position is that Japan must accept the opinion of the Japanese people as represented by the low acceptance of the textbook," the South Korean spokesman said.

Japanese media have said that 532 out of 542 school districts have decided not to use the text, written by avowedly nationalist authors and aimed at children aged 13 to 15.

Japanese government sources said Koizumi had instructed the Foreign Ministry to arrange his trip to Seoul and Beijing before he attends a summit meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in Shanghai in October.

Japan colonized Korea in 1910, forcing Koreans to use its language and pledge loyalty to its emperor until the occupation ended with Japan's surrender in World War Two in 1945.

Reuters contributed to this report.