South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has reiterated his future-oriented stance to restore Seoul's ties with Tokyo.

He made the remark in an interview with the Washington Post that was conducted before his visit to the United States this week. It was published in the US newspaper's electronic version on Monday.

Yoon said that South Korea's security concerns were "too urgent to delay cooperation with Tokyo," apparently referring to the issues with North Korea.

He said Europe has experienced several wars in the past 100 years but "the warring countries have found ways to cooperate for the future." Yoon added he cannot accept the notion "that Japanese must kneel for forgiveness because of our history 100 years ago."

He said the issue requires a decision.

Yoon was apparently trying to counter criticism by the opposition that he could not make Japan apologize over their historical issues during last month's South Korea-Japan summit.