Japan's DPJ lawmakers to visit South Korea on ties

A group of lawmakers from Japan's main opposition the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will visit South Korea from Wednesday for a three-day trip in an effort to mend fences between the two countries, according to local media. Former party chief Seiji Maehara and Akihisa Nagashima, former senior vice defense minister, are among the lawmakers, who are expected to meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, Japan's Kyodo News quoted DPJ members as saying. The lawmakers also plan to meet their South Korean counterparts and scholars during their visit. Relations between the two neighboring countries soured due to a group of islands in the Sea of Japan, which known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan. Both countries are also in a row on Japan's reflects on wartime history, especially on the issue of "comfort women" and visits by Japanese lawmakers and ministers to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine.