President Park Geun-hye has renewed calls for a correct recognition of history to move ties forward in the region as she visited a symbolic building in China that served as a base against Japan's aggression.
  

Park attended a ceremony on Friday to reopen a historic building in Shanghai that was used by Korea's provisional government during part of Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
  

The ceremony "showed that South Korea and China share the historic meaning and value of sites of our independence struggle," Park said in the ceremony.
  

She vowed to make efforts to keep those sites intact through close cooperation with China.
  

China has helped preserve the building and other historic sites related with Korea's independence movement against Japan, in a sign of deepening ties between South Korea and China.

  
Many Koreans moved to China to continue the anti-Japanese resistance movement during the colonial rule.
  

"Our people remember well that Chinese people provided support" to Korea's independence movement, Park said in an interview with the People's Daily, a state-run Chinese newspaper, published on Friday. "We are thankful to our old friends."
  

The provisional government was formed on April 13, 1919, as the Korean government-in-exile, a month after Korea launched an independence movement against Japan. The Korean Peninsula was later divided into the capitalist South and the communist North after its independence from Japan in 1945.
  

Shanghai is the second and last stop on Park's three-day trip to China. In Beijing, she met with her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and attended a military parade, the centerpiece of the 70th anniversary of China's victory over Japan in World War II.
  

Xi has highlighted that Koreans and Chinese fought against Japan's aggressions as he expressed his gratitude to Park for visiting China for the celebrations.
  

South Korea, China and Japan are key trade partners, but tensions still persist between South Korea and Japan and between China and Japan over territorial and other history-related issues.
  

Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony and controlled much of China in the early part of the 20th century.
  

"The countries in the region need to make joint efforts to move toward a new future based on a correct recognition of history," Park told the People's Daily. "On that premise, sufferings of past history can be healed and overcome."
  

Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tokyo "has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war."
  

Still, Abe did not offer his own clear apology for Japan's militaristic past in the statement issued on Aug. 14, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
  

Park and Xi have agreed to hold a trilateral summit with Japan in Seoul in either late October or early November.
  

A trilateral summit has not been held since May 2012 due to the tensions in the region. China was represented by its prime minister in a previous trilateral summit.
  

Park expressed hope that Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo can create a new order of trust, noting it is very important for the neighbors to boost mutual cooperation.
  

She also called for cooperation with China to ensure lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia, where North Korea poses threats with its missile and nuclear programs.
  

China is believed to have significant leverage over North Korea, which has long been dependent on Chinese diplomatic support and economic aid.
  

Park said in a meeting with hundreds of people of the Korean community in Shanghai that China's cooperation is very critical in bringing out changes in North Korea and in achieving unification with North Korea.
  

She also reaffirmed her stance that South Korea will sternly retaliate against North Korea, if provoked, but it will make efforts to continue dialogue and cooperation with North Korea.
  

The two Koreas have recently produced a deal that eased the tensions and paved the way for reunions of families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)