Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, second from right, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeon offer flowers before a cenotaph for South Korean atomic bomb victims at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on May 21. Kishida is flanked by his wife, Yuko, and Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, is to her husband’s right. (Pool)

HIROSHIMA--Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol jointly paid their respects May 21 before a cenotaph here dedicated to South Korean victims of Hiroshima’s atomic bombing.

Their presence in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is yet another sign of improving ties between the two sometimes sparring Asian neighbors.

Many Koreans were in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb detonated over the city on Aug. 6, 1945, because the Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule.

Yoon’s visit to the cenotaph is the first by a South Korean leader. He is in Hiroshima to attend a Group of Seven meeting with the heads of selected countries.

At the outset of bilateral talks with Yoon, Kishida called their visit to the cenotaph significant both in terms of relations between the two countries and in their joint prayers for world peace.

Yoon said the visit would be remembered as Kishida’s “courageous act” to commemorate South Korean atomic bomb victims and to prepare for a peaceful future.

Kishida proposed jointly paying respects before the cenotaph during a bilateral summit in Seoul on May 7, Japanese government officials said.

In a meeting with South Korean atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima on May 19, Yoon said it would allow the two leaders to honor South Korean victims who experienced the horrors of war away from home and “confirm our resolve to open a future of peace and prosperity for the two countries.”

By one estimate, tens of thousands of people from the Korean Peninsula suffered from the effects of atomic bombing. However, the precise figure is not known.

During the 30-minute summit, Kishida told Yoon that their meeting, the third this year, demonstrates that bilateral relations are on a stronger footing after a long period of estrangement.

Yoon visited Japan for the first time in March after South Korea created a thaw in strained ties by announcing a plan to settle the thorny issue of compensation for wartime Korean laborers.

When the two leaders met in Seoul on May 7, Kishida, referring to wartime laborers, said his “heart hurts” when he confronts “the fact that many people endured very difficult and sad experiences under severe circumstances at the time.”

On May 21, Yoon told Kishida that his words resonated deeply in his own country.

“It was very important that the prime minister demonstrated a conscientious attitude with courage and determination,” the president said.

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