President Park Geun-hye expressed deep regret Monday over North Korea's recent decision to push back its standard time by 30 minutes.
  

The North said last week that its clocks will be moved back a half-hour starting on Liberation Day, the 70th anniversary of liberation from Japan's colonial rule. Liberation Day, which falls on Saturday, is a major holiday in both Koreas.
  

Currently, the two Koreas use identical standard time, set under Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
  

"It is very regrettable for North Korea to announce the change of its standard time without any prior consultations or notifications," Park said in a regular meeting with her top aides at Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea's presidential office.

Park warned that the North's unilateral decision could deepen differences between the two Koreas and it runs counter to efforts for inter-Korean cooperation and a peaceful unification.
  

Park also urged Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to reaffirm the recognition of history by previous Japanese administrations in his upcoming speech to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
  

"We hope that Japan will show a mature attitude to start anew its relations with neighboring countries," including South Korea, Park said.
  

South Korea and Japan are close economic partners and key allies of the United States, though they have long been in conflict over territory and other historical disputes stemming from Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
  

Abe's speech, set to be delivered on Friday, will be closely watched by South Korea, China and other regional powers to see if Abe will reiterate his predecessors' statements on Japan's wartime aggression.
  

Japan controlled much of China in the early part of the 20th century.
  

Abe's Cabinet angered South Korea last year with its attempt to "review" the Kono Statement, a move that was widely seen by South Korea as an attempt to undermine the apology's credibility.
  

In June, Abe's special envoy, Fukushiro Nukaga, told Park during his trip to Seoul that Abe has vowed to inherit Japan's two previous statements of apology -- the 1995 Murayama and the 1993 Kono statements.
  

In 1993, then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono issued a landmark statement recognizing the military's involvement in establishing and operating "comfort stations," a euphemism for brothels where hundreds of thousands of Korean and other Asian women were forced into sexual slavery.
  

Two years later, then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama acknowledged and apologized for the suffering his country inflicted on neighboring nations, including Korea, through its aggressions in the early part of the 20th century.
  

Park also pressed Japan to address the issue of the elderly Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japan's World War II soldiers -- one of the knottiest issues.
  

"We may lose an opportunity forever to resolve the issue unless we address it now," Park said, noting that time is running out as the number of victims still alive is dwindling.
  

In 2007, more than 120 South Korean victims were alive, but the number has since dropped to 47, with their average age standing at nearly 90.
  

Also Monday, Park urged an umbrella labor union to return to the negotiating table on reforming South Korea's rigid labor market.
  

The dialogue has been stalled since April, when Federation of Korean Trade Unions walked out of its negotiations with the government and management on labor market reforms.
  

Park also urged large companies to increase the hiring of young people as part of their social responsibility.
  

The unemployment rate for people between the ages of 15 and 29 stood at 10.2 percent in June, compared with the overall jobless rate of 3.9 percent in the same period, according to government data. (Yonhap)