Japan, South Korea resume summit talks after 3-year halt

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, left, is escorted by Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda as he arrives for a meeting at the prime mnister's offical residence in Tokyo Monday April 21, 2008. Lee, accompanied by his wife, arrived in Tokyo on Sunday on a whirlwind visit to Japan, following his trip to Washington. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, POOL)

TOKYO—Japan's prime minister told the South Korean president Monday he wanted a new era in relations between their countries as the two resumed regular summit talks suspended three years ago amid a dispute over a Tokyo war shrine.

Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and South Korea's new President Lee Myung-bak were expected to discuss expanding business and culture exchanges and explore ways to step up cooperation on North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

"I would like to open a new era in Japan-South Korea relations," Fukuda told a joint news conference after the talks. "We still need to deepen our mutual understanding in order to strengthen our ties."

The two countries agreed to hold annual summits in 2004, but South Korea suspended them in 2005 to protest then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to a Tokyo war shrine criticized as a symbol of Japanese militarism.

Fukuda and Lee agreed to resume the talks during a meeting in February on the sidelines of the South Korean president's inauguration.

Japan ruled the Korean peninsula as a colony in 1910-45 before it was divided into South Korea and North Korea. Many Koreans still harbor deep resentment over the Japanese occupation.

Lee said he hoped South Korea and Japan could move beyond their difficult past.

"In our bilateral relations, of course, we cannot forget history," he said. "But we should not let an obsession with the past hinder our move toward the future."

The two leaders also said they expected North Korea to make a full declaration of its nuclear weapons programs.

Nuclear talks between North Korea and five other nations are stalled over whether Pyongyang will fully declare its uranium enrichment program and alleged proliferation activities in return for concessions.

Fukuda thanked Lee for choosing Japan as one of the two destinations of his first presidential trip abroad.

"That shows President Lee's policy to prioritize his country's relations with Japan," Fukuda said.

Lee is on his way home from a trip to the United States for talks with President Bush, during which the two leaders also agreed they still expected a complete declaration from North Korea.

The last trip to Japan by a South Korea president was by South Korean Roh Moo-hyun in December 2004.

Lee also was to meet with Japanese business leaders and Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.