History, Fishing on Agenda For Koizumi's Visit Today

President Kim Dae-jung will discuss the assessment of past colonial history and fishing in the waters off the Southern Kuril Islands, among other issues, with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during summit talks in Seoul Monday.

It will be their first meeting since Mr. Koizumi's inauguration in April.

The government plans to press Japan not to repeat actions that rub on the sensitive issue of Korea's history of colonization by Japan. Feelings were inflamed by the authorization of history textbooks Korea views as biased and by Mr. Koizumi's official visit to the Yasukuni shrine to Japan's war dead.

Mr. Kim also plans to reiterate that the proposed ban by Russia and Japan on fishing in waters off the Southern Kuril Islands should not damage Korea's fishing economy.

Mr. Koizumi is scheduled to tour the Independence Park in Seodaemun, where martyred patriots were incarcerated, and to reflect and apologize for past history at the same level that former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama did in 1995 and as stated in the 1998 Korea-Japan Partnership Joint Declaration. But he is said not to have made clear his position on future visits to the Yasukuni shrine.

He will reportedly take up the fishing matter as the main agenda item and emphasize that the issue is a territorial dispute between Russia and Japan, but that Japan will hold additional consultations with Korea.

Little progress, therefore, is expected on the two main issues of contention. But some analysts in Korea cautiously forecast that Japan may allow Korean boats to fish in the ocean off Sanriku, which it had banned in retaliation for their previous fishing off the Kurils.

The two sides will also touch upon cooperation in the war against terrorism, the soccer World Cup to be hosted jointly by Korea and Japan next year and North Korea policies.

by Oh Young-hwan