Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Thursday issued his country's strongest apology to date to the South Korean people for 35 years of brutal colonial rule.
A joint declaration made by Obuchi and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who is visiting Tokyo, said Obuchi "expressed deep remorse and extended a heartfelt apology to the people of South Korea, having humbly accepted the historical fact that Japan inflicted heavy damage and pain on the people of South Korea through its colonial rule."It was the first written apology ever issued to an individual country by Japan for its actions before and during World War II.
Kim accepted the apology and Japan's recognition of the past and acknowledged that it went deeper than previous Japanese apologies for the war.
Up to now, the most thorough apology was a verbal statement issued to the people of Asia by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in August 1995. No specific countries were mentioned.
"The apology in the declaration is different from previous statements by the Japanese government in terms of form and gravity," the South Korean leader said at a news conference after the meeting.
In a speech to the Japanese parliament, Kim forgave Japan for its colonial rule and emphasised a future of partnership between the Asian neighbors.
Citing the common threat of North Korea, underlined by its recent launch of what Japan says was a ballistic missile, Kim called for a united front.
But the main theme of his address to both houses of Japan's parliament was reconciliation after decades of bitterness over Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula. At the end of the speech he received a standing ovation.
"It is truly infantile to regard 1,500 years of exchanges and cooperation as insignificant because of unfortunate periods that totalled fewer than 50 years," Kim said.
"Isn't it something we should be ashamed of and something we should be reproached for by our ancestors, who forged such a history, and by our descendants?" he said.
On Wednesday Kim invited Emperor Akihito to visit South Korea.