Lee, Aso say history issues will not dampen ties

SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- Recurring disputes over history between South Korea
and Japan will not prevent the two nations from cooperating to overcome the
economic downturn threatening to pull them into an unprecedented recession, the
heads of the countries said Monday.

"There have been difficult times due to various reasons, but when we look back we
see there was never a time when we moved backward, though there were times when
we wavered," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said during a joint press
conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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