Hundreds of South Korean scholars Monday called on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to "sincerely" apologize for his country's militaristic past and brutal colonization of Korea, as both countries prepare to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
  

This Friday, Abe is set to issue a statement marking Japan's World War II defeat, which ushered in Korea's independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.
  

The Japanese leader has offered a glimpse into his hyper-conservative views on history several times in the past.
  

During his speech to the U.S. Congress in April, Abe said Japan's wartime actions "brought suffering to Asian people" but remained vague as to how and what he would do to remedy the problem.
  

In October, he denied Japan's enslavement of hundreds of thousands of women to provide sex to its soldiers during World War II, enraging neighboring South Korea and China.
  

"South Korea-Japan relations have been regressing since the Kono and Murayama statements," a statement by a coalition of more than 700 South Korean scholars from all disciplines said.
  

Though former Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono and former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama have admitted to Japan's belligerent past in their statements in the 1990s, it remains unclear whether Abe will uphold them.
  

The coalition said only after Japan faces its past mistakes will it be able to foster close ties with South Korea.
  

"The Japanese government must admit to having provoked wars starting with the Sino-Japanese War (in the 1890s) and apologize for the mass killing and suffering of Asian people," it said. (Yonhap)