Kim Refuses Visit By Team From Tokyo

TOKYO － President Kim Dae-jung refused to accept an official visit to the Blue House on Sunday from three senior Japanese politicians representing the Japanese coalition government.

The move was the first of promised strong government measures against Japan's refusal to revise entries in history textbooks.

But the group, led by Chairman Taku Yamasaki of the Liberal Democratic Party and including members of the ruling alliance of Japan's Conservative Party and the Komeito Party, will be received by South Korean Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo instead.

The Japanese envoys were to deliver to President Kim Dae-jung a letter from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, explaining Japan's position on his proposed August visit to Yasukuni Shrine, the ongoing conflict between South Korea and Japan over fishing rights in the seas off the South Kuril Islands and the conversial history textbooks.

by Nahm Yoon-ho