South Korean and Japanese intellectuals have issued a joint statement saying Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910 was invalid.

Intellectuals from the two countries on Monday held separate news conferences in Seoul and Tokyo, releasing the statement on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the annexation.

The statement said that the annexation and the related treaty were unfair and unjust imperialist acts.

The statement stressed that South Korea's interpretation that the annexation, which was the result of Japan's policy of aggression in the past, was invalid and that such a view should be accepted as a common view.

It is the first time intellectuals of the two nations have jointly issued such a statement.