Park stresses future, MPs focus on past

South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday called for a "future-oriented" relationship with Japan, even as a group of Seoul lawmakers dredged up a long-running territorial dispute by visiting some islets also claimed by Tokyo.

The visit by 10 lawmakers to the South Korean-controlled islets, known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) drew an angry response from the Japanese government which called the trip "extremely regrettable".

The row over the islets is one of a number of bitter disputes that have tainted relations between Seoul and Tokyo for decades.