Recent remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that appeared to revisit Tokyo’s wartime history have thrown “cold water” on efforts by South Korea to improve bilateral ties, Seoul’s top diplomat said Friday.

The relations between Seoul and Tokyo have come under fresh strain since late last week when Japanese ministers paid homage to a controversial war shrine that glorifies Japan’s military past and Abe raised doubts over whether Tokyo’s World War II occupation of nations, including Korea, could be defined as an “invasion.”

“It is deplorable that the latest retrograde and anachronistic comments from some Japanese leaders threw cold water on efforts by neighboring countries to work together to build a new future for Northeast Asia,” Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told a forum in Seoul.

Yun, who canceled his planned visit to Japan this week in a diplomatic reprisal at visits by Japanese ministers to the Yasukuni shrine, did not mention Abe by name, but his comments were clearly aimed at the prime minister.

South Korea has been boiling over in anger with Japan after Abe questioned the definition of “invasion” during a parliamentary meeting this week, suggesting that the word’s definition is vague academically and internationally, and depends on from which side one looks at the situation.

That apparently meant he does not regard the country’s militaristic past, including the 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea, as an aggressive act.

Yun called on Japanese leaders to “deeply reflect” on their comments, saying “Those who turn a blind eye on the past cannot see the future.”

The minister also urged Japan to “rebuild trust with neighboring countries based on a correct understanding of history.”

On Thursday, South Korea summoned the Japanese ambassador and lodged a formal complaint over Abe’s remarks and shrine visits, while calling for “Japanese leaders to reflect on Japan’s past aggression and colonial rule in an honest and humble manner through the mirror of history, and to correct their retrograde perception, comments and behaviors today.”

Japan’s harsh colonial rule left deep scars on the hearts of Koreans. During that period, Koreans were banned from using their own language at schools and were forced to adopt Japanese names.

Hundreds of thousands of Koreans were also mobilized as forced laborers and sex slaves.

Japan has offered an apology over the colonial rule many times before, but South Koreans view such apologies as insincere because Japanese leaders and politicians have not backed them up with action and have continued to engage in such moves as visiting the shrine and distorting history.

Later in the day the National Assembly’s foreign affairs committee adopted a resolution denouncing Japan’s recent moves to glorify its militaristic past.

“We strongly condemn such irrational and rash acts and words because they are a diplomatic provocation with serious negative consequences for future-oriented ties between South Korea and Japan and the establishment of peace in Northeast Asia,” the committee said in the resolution.

It also called on “responsible” Japanese figures to stop paying their respects to war criminals and stop making “absurd” statements that “deny a past that cannot be denied.”

“We strongly urge (Japan) to apologize sincerely and reflect deeply on its past, which caused extreme pain to numerous people,” the resolution said.

Describing Japan’s recent moves as a return to militarism, the committee called on the South Korean government to use all of its diplomatic resources to handle the situation with “firm determination.”

The international community should also recognize the seriousness of the issue and take strict measures, it added.

Several South Korean civic groups also strongly denounced Japan’s nationalistic moves.

The Korea Freedom Federation held a press conference in front of the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul and noted that Abe’s denial of Imperial Japan’s aggression should not be condoned.

“We cannot control our anger over Prime Minister Abe’s remarks made during the Tuesday parliamentary meeting when he said that the definition of aggression is vague academically and internationally, and depends on from which side one looks at the situation,” the federation said.

In a separate press conference in central Seoul, a group of six conservative groups also lashed out at Japan in unison and questioned the Abe Cabinet’s perception of history.

“We strongly denounce the Abe Cabinet’s disregard of the country’s militaristic past and the 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula,” the groups said in a statement.

Separately, 30 members of a group representing those who suffered from forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule, called for Tokyo’s sincere apology and compensation. (Yonhap News)