South Korea has expressed through diplomatic channels its regret over recent comments made by the Japanese foreign minister defending Japan’s annexation of Korea in 1910.

Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada also said in a news conference with Asahi Shimbun on Tuesday that colonization policies, when seen from a global context, were not limited to Japan.

Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kim Young-sun delivered Korea’s message to Japan. She said Japan explained that the comment was meant to stress that the pains of the victims of Japanese colonization must not be forgotten. Japan reportedly told Kim that it did not intend to justify its forced takeover of Korea.