S. Korea Warns of Japan's Shift to the Right

South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan warned Thursday of signs of a rightward shift in Japanese politics, including an increasingly aggressive stance on territorial issues.

Kim's remarks followed last week's decision by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to dissolve parliament and call a general election next month.

"Overall, the political situation in Japan is showing signs of a rightward shift and some say Japan is increasingly becoming nationalistic," Yonhap news agency quoted the minister as telling a business forum in Seoul.

"We are closely watching the situation and will be prepared to cope with it," Kim said. "Japan is becoming more conservative and aggressive over territorial matters and (we) need to watch out for that."

Early polls suggest Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), headed by former premier Shinzo Abe, will emerge as the single biggest party in the December 16 election.

On Wednesday the LDP unveiled a series of policy priorities, including pledges to consider establishing a permanent presence on uninhabited Tokyo-controlled islands at the center of a dispute with China.

It also promised a review of the self-imposed ban on defending allies, raising the possibility of Japanese troops returning fire if U.S. forces come under attack.

South Korea is currently locked in its own territorial dispute with Japan over islands midway between the two countries.

"Again, I would like to make it clear that we will not compromise with Japan with regard to territorial and history-related issues," Kim said.

The prospect of Abe being handed another term as prime minister is viewed with some alarm in South Korea, where bitter memories linger of Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.

Seoul reacted angrily last month when Abe visited a Tokyo shrine that honors 2.5 million war dead, including 14 leading war criminals from World War II.

As prime minister in 2007, he angered South Koreans by denying the Japanese military's direct involvement in forcing women, many from the Korean peninsula, into sexual slavery during the war.

At a press briefing later Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Young stressed Seoul's desire for good relations with Tokyo but echoed Kim's concerns about Japan's future direction.

"We hope Japan, which is one of our good neighbors, will make history rather than repeat history, and we will watch with keen attention what kind of a country some forces in Japan seek to bring back," Cho said.