Seoul hopes Abe will work to improve bilateral ties

South Korea expressed hope Wednesday that Japan's new leader will take a sincere attitude to address the strained relations between the two neighboring countries.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) elected Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe to succeed Junichiro Koizumi as its party leader.

Abe will also succeed Koizumi as the country's prime minister, as the LDP holds the majority of seats in the parliament "The government hopes that the factor of strained ties between South Korea and Japan will be cleared with the launch of Japan's new government and their relations will develop into future-oriented friendly relations," Vice Foreign Minister Lee Kyu-hyung said in a press briefing. "I think Japan should show sincerity for it."

The Seoul-Tokyo relations have chilled during the Koizumi era, as he has made annual pilgrimages to the Yasukuni Shrine. The Tokyo shrine honors 2.5 million war dead including 14 convicted Class-A World War II criminals.

Japan has also been accused of trying to whitewash its wartime atrocities by distorting school history textbooks, which critics say shows Japan's swing back to imperialism, as well as laying claim to the South Korean islets of Dokdo in the East Sea.

Seoul, Sept. 20 (Yonhap News)