South Korea is positively assessing comments made Thursday by Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in regards to Japan’s colonization of Korea from 1910 to 1945.

Okada, who arrived in Seoul on Wednesday for meetings with South Korean officials, called on the two nations to start building a new, future-oriented relationship while coming to grips with the past.

Okada said that Japan should not forget the pain of the Korean victims of colonization and that the Tokyo government stands by a 1995 statement issued by then Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, in which Japan offered a "heartfelt apology" for causing "tremendous damage and suffering to the people" of countries colonized or invaded by Japan.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said Seoul favorably reviews the comments by Okada, adding that he hopes this attitude will lead to progress in current unresolved issues between the two countries.

In addition, Kim said that the issue of Japan returning Joseon Dynasty royal documents to South Korea was not part of the formal agenda for Thursday’s meeting between Okada and Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.

However, Kim said that Yu expressed interest in the issue during their meeting. The Japanese Imperial Household Agency reportedly has a significant number of royal documents from the Joseon Dynasty, the last Korean dynasty before Japan annexed Korea in 1910.