Foreign Minister Yohei Kono confirmed Friday that Japan has offered to extend economic cooperation to North Korea instead of monetary compensation for its 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
"We raised it as one of many ideas . . . for settling the past," Kono told reporters, referring to the two days of negotiations that ended Thursday on establishing bilateral diplomatic ties.
The talks took place Tuesday in Tokyo and then in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture.