Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi arrived in Seoul on Monday for a meeting with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun to try to patch up ties frayed by disputes over their countries' bitter history.  

Seoul is angry at what it sees as Tokyo's failure to face up to its militarism during World War II, symbolized by Koizumi's annual visits to a shrine for Japanese war dead.

But prospects of a dramatic turnaround in ties appeared slim as Koizumi has shown little sign of accepting South Korea's request to stop visiting the Yasukuni Shrine where some convicted war criminals are honored along with other Japanese war dead.

Monday's meeting is the latest "shuttle summit." The first was last July, but unlike the past two summits where the leaders met at resorts without neckties, Monday's will be held at Roh's office and the two will have their ties on.

"We want it to be a 'no-necktie' meeting, but they are the hosts and are the ones to decide," a Japanese official said last week.

Even the meeting itself seemed to be in jeopardy after some South Korean politicians questioned the need for it, and only last week did the two sides finally manage to set a date.

Japanese officials wanted the meeting in part as a chance to coordinate efforts on resolving the Korean Peninsula nuclear crisis.

South Korean officials have said history will be a key item on the agenda, and whether Japan shows it is facing up to its past would be a critical precondition to future relations.

Worsening sentiment

Besides Yasukuni, Tokyo and Seoul have a series of disputes stemming from their past, including a row over the ownership of a number of rocky islets and over a Japanese history textbook that South Korea says whitewashes Japan's wartime atrocities and its 1910-1945 colonial rule over Korea.

Sporadic protests marked Koizumi's arrival in Seoul.

About 20 protesters burned the Japanese flag and rallied in front of the Japanese embassy, calling for an end to visits to Yasukuni and Japan's compensation for individual victims.

About 100 police officers in full riot gear surrounded a central Seoul block as Koizumi arrived at a hotel there.

A survey released on Sunday found 57 percent of South Korean respondents believed matters concerning Japan's perception of history need to be resolved for a better bilateral relationship.

The poll, by Japan's Kyodo News Service in May, also found 82 percent of South Koreans opposed Koizumi's Yasukuni visits, and 75 percent did not have a favorable opinion of Japan.

But the survey, also carried out in Japan, found 41 percent of Japanese respondents opposed the Yasukuni visits, more than the 31 percent who said Koizumi should continue them.

Pressure on Koizumi to abandon the visits has been increasing even from his predecessors and ruling party members concerned about the damage to Japan's ties with Asian neighbors.

A fresh survey by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper published on Monday showed 50 percent of Japanese voters who responded opposed Koizumi's shrine visits, while 41 percent expressed support.

Top officials in Japan's ruling coalition were quoted as saying on Sunday they support building a new national memorial for the war dead without Yasukuni's historical baggage, an idea Seoul is expected to raise at Monday's meeting.

The government has ditched a proposal by an advisory panel in 2002 to set up a secular national war memorial, and Koizumi reiterated on Monday Yasukuni would not be replaced.

"Whatever kind of memorial may be established, Yasukuni Shrine will exist, it will not disappear," Koizumi told reporters at his official residence on Monday. "I have to explain that, so there won't be any misunderstanding."

(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies, June 21, 2005)