Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is reportedly considering sending his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama to South Korea as a special envoy to return Joseon Dynasty royal ceremonial records and cultural assets Japan took from the Korean Peninsula during colonial rule.

Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun said that Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku asked the former Japanese prime minister earlier this week to visit South Korea to oversee the return of the items. Hatoyama said he would consider the request.

The daily said that Seoul also expressed a positive response to a visit by Hatoyama as an envoy.

Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told reporters Friday that he will ask all the political parties in Japan to cooperate in the government’s efforts to win unanimous parliamentary approval for a treaty on the return of the cultural assets to South Korea.