Koizumi Expected to Send Message to President Roh

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will send a message on ROK-Japan relations, which have significantly deteriorated recently, to President Roh Moo-hyun at the end of this month according to reports. With the message, a bilateral dialogue to resolve the issues of Dokdo and Japanese distortions of history is expected to begin in earnest.

“To my knowledge, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, the head of Japan-Korea Parliamentarians’Union of Japan, will bring the prime minister’s message on his visit to Korea at the end of this month.” said Kobayashi Yutaka, a member of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of the House of Representatives on April 8 during his meeting with Grand National Party (GNP) chairwoman Park Geun-hye, according to GNP spokesperson Jeon Yeo-ok on April 10.

It is expected that in the message, the Japanese prime minister will emphasize the importance of future-oriented friendship and cooperation between the two countries. With regard to the issue, Mr. Kobayashi said, “When I met the former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Prime Minister Koizumi before my visit to Korea, the Prime Minister said that it would be better to refrain from making provocative remarks toward Korea,” according to Uri party spokesman Jun Byung-heon.

Seung-Heon Lee ddr@donga.com