Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun failed to agree on Monday over how to patch up ties frayed by disputes over their countries' bitter history, Roh said.
Seoul is angry at what it sees as Tokyo's failure to face up to its militarism during World War Two, symbolised by Koizumi's annual visits to a shrine for Japanese war dead as well as perceived lapses in a school history textbook in Japan.
Speaking at a briefing after talks in a guesthouse in the presidential Blue House compound, Roh said he and Koizumi spent most of their time talking about history.
"We had a very candid and serious dialogue and made efforts to understand each other," he said. "But this failed to yield any agreements." The two leaders did not accept questions upon Seoul's request, Japanese officials said.
A Japanese official quoted Roh as telling Koizumi the Japanese leader's visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where some convicted war criminals are honoured along with other Japanese war dead, constitute the "very heart" of the history dispute.
Koizumi said he understood Roh wanted him to stop the pilgrimage. But he said the visits were meant to show respect for the war dead and to vow never again to stage war.
"I told him that I take to heart the sentiments of Koreans about the past," Koizumi said of his talks with Roh.
Asked whether he would visit this year, Koizumi told reporters it was not raised with Roh. The Japanese leader last paid respects at Yasukuni in January 2004.
Roh said he and Koizumi did agree to push for North Korea to return to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons programmes, and Koizumi said he was optimistic that Pyongyang would return to the discussions, which have not been held since June last year.
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