hankyoreh

South Korea is considering signing an agreement on military cooperation with Japan for the first time since Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule over six decades ago, the Defense Ministry said Monday.

The formal agreement is likely to be signed during a visit here by Japan's Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, according to a spokesman for the Defense Ministry.

"It is true that both sides have felt the need for such an agreement and have been consulting with each other on the issue," the ministry spokesman, Kim Hyong-ki, told reporters, noting the official title or the nature of the envisioned agreement has yet to be finalized.

The spokesman said the Japanese defense minister will visit the country within the year for an annual meeting with his South Korean counterpart, though the exact date of the visit has yet to be set.

"What the agreement will look like or how it will come to be is up to additional negotiations between the sides," Kim added.

Ministry officials earlier said Tokyo had proposed signing such an agreement in 2005, but that Seoul had opposed the move amid tension over Japan's claim to the South Korean islets of Dokdo in the East Sea and continued disputes over Japan's attempts to whitewash its atrocities during its colonial rule of Korea from 1910 through 1945.

"Because the sides had already composed the agreement in 2005, they really only need to sign the document at the upcoming meeting," a ministry official said, asking not to be identified.

The official said the agreement outlines what he called "general rules" on cooperation and personnel exchanges between the militaries of the two nations that also call for regular joint search-and-rescue exercises between their navies.

South Korea's naval forces nearly clashed with two of Japan's Coast Guard survey ships in 2006 as the Japanese vessels approached Dokdo to conduct research. Tokyo has called off the maritime research, but continues to claim sovereignty over the islets.

SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap)