S Korea and Japan restore military ties

Japan and South Korea have agreed to restore military ties suspended last year over a dispute about history books.

The agreement was reached after a meeting between Japan's Defence Minister Gen Nakatani and his South Korean counterpart Kim Dong-Shin.

Military exchange visits will resume and a joint navy search and rescue exercise will take place in September. South Korea announced a series of measures against Japan in July last year, after Japan refused to change controversial text-books which Seoul said glossed over Japan's colonial and wartime record.

Relations improved last month during a visit to South Korea by the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi; he apologised for South Korea's suffering under Japanese colonial rule.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service