Staff writer The 2002 World Cup soccer finals will be a test for Japan and South Korea, joint hosts of the tournament, to demonstrate their enhanced partnership in recent years, according to Japan's new ambassador to South Korea. Terusuke Terada, 61, former ambassador to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, was assigned to his new post earlier this month. He will leave for Seoul in mid-February. "By making painstaking efforts to leave our past behind, Japan and South Korea are striving to build a new partnership aimed at our common future," Terada said in a recent interview. "We should never let our improved ties go backward." Japanese-South Korean relations have taken a significant turn for the better in recent years through mutual visits by the two countries' leaders, namely the October 1998 visit to Tokyo by South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and the visit last March to Seoul by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. During Kim's visit, he and Obuchi issued a joint statement that clarified Japan's apology to the Korean people for its 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. It was the first time Tokyo has expressed remorse and issued an apology for the history between the two countries in a document. "Our next common objective is to make the upcoming (joint-hosting of the) World Cup a success," Terada said. "The extent of cooperation between our people will be put to the test as we prepare for the tournament." Terada said he is confident Japan and South Korea will be able to achieve that goal, saying their relations have never been better, both at the government and grassroots level. "A recent poll shows that for the first time in 11 years, the number of Japanese who feel a sense of closeness to South Koreans exceeded the number of those who do not," Terada said. "The World Cup has had a very positive influence on Japan's national sentiment toward South Korea." According to the result of a public opinion poll released last week by the Prime Minister's Office, 48.3 percent of respondents said they feel well-disposed toward South Korea. Although some 46 percent gave a negative answer, the percentage of those who responded negatively has been declining after hitting 60 percent in 1996. The poll was conducted in September and October. Questionnaires were sent to 3,000 people aged 20 and over, and 70.1 percent responded. "In addition to the World Cup, President Kim's policies to gradually lift a ban on Japanese culture, including Japanese movies and music, have also promoted South Koreans' understanding of Japan," Terada said. Touching on North Korea, Terada, a key figure in formulating Japan's policies for the Korean Peninsula, stressed that policy coordination by Japan, South Korea and the United States will continue to be the basis of Tokyo's policies toward Pyongyang. "The three countries' concerted efforts to deal with North Korea since last spring have proved remarkably effective in deterring Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programs," Terada said. "Japan will closely share information with the U.S. and South Korea as we advance negotiations for normalizing our diplomatic relations with North Korea." Last month, Tokyo and Pyongyang began to move toward resuming normalization talks in two landmark meetings in Beijing: one between the two countries' Red Cross Societies on their humanitarian concerns and another between the two governments on preliminary discussions to resume normalization talks after an almost seven-year hiatus. The Red Cross delegates agreed that the Japanese side will urge Tokyo to quickly provide food aid "from a humanitarian standpoint," while the Pyongyang side will request a relevant institution to launch a "serious search" for missing Japanese that Tokyo believes were abducted by North Korean agents. Meanwhile, the two governments concluded the first round of preliminary talks, agreeing to meet again to lay the groundwork for full-fledged normalization negotiations. As to the timing of such full-scale normalization talks, however, Terada said, "It is difficult to predict how many more preparatory rounds might be necessary, depending on the development of talks on the abduction and food issues."