Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday made little headway on issues that have divided their two nations in recent months but agreed on largely cosmetic measures in a bid to smooth ruffled feathers on both sides of the East Sea. At a summit in Seoul on Monday, the two leaders agreed to start a second round of joint historical research and set up a team that will research content of history textbooks. They also affirmed their commitment to a peaceful resolution of the dispute over North Korea¡¯s nuclear program.
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Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi chat ahead of a summit at Sangchunjae, or Spring House, in Cheong Wa Dae on Monday.
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But about major pending issues such as Japanese history textbooks and the Yasukuni Shrine, there was a failure to find points of agreement due to the wide gaps in understanding.
In an unusually blunt statement after the summit, Roh said the two ¡°talked frankly and formed some consensus, but there were no agreements¡± except those of a "low level" on research cooperation.
"It's difficult to say that future peace is guaranteed by just strengthening exchanges and cooperation,¡± Roh said. Ensuring future security and peace required consolidating the diplomatic and political framework, and then taking ¡°measures that can sort out and reconcile historical understanding between the two nations," he said.
Koizumi said he ¡°told President Roh that we take history very seriously, and said that as a peaceful country I feel Japan must not start a war a second time."
But the Japanese premier was noncommittal about a proposal to set up an alternative memorial for his country¡¯s war dead, repeating only that he would consider it taking into account several factors including public opinion in Japan.
Koizumi also announced plans to compensate Koreans drafted as forced laborers in Sakhalin Island and Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Monday's summit lasted for two hours followed by the press announcement and dinner. The two leaders agreed to hold their next summit in Japan.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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