Japan's Kyodo news agency said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama expressed his intention to review plans for a joint security declaration with South Korea.

Hatoyama said talk of the declaration being circulated by the media has come out amid an increasing atmosphere of cooperation, stemming from reduced feelings of animosity, which originated from a number of historical issues between the two nations.

Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said such a declaration would be highly welcome if discussions with Korea were possible, but that he had not heard anything about a Cabinet review on the matter.

Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun daily earlier reported that the two nations were reviewing a joint declaration by the leaders of the two nations in order to step up security cooperation. However, South Korea's presidential office denied the report.