SEOUL - South Korea's President-elect Park Geun-hye on Friday met with a delegation dispatched by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The envoys, led by former Japanese finance minister Fukushiro Nukaga, gave Park a letter in which Abe voiced hope for progress in bilateral relations, Park's spokeswoman Cho Yoon-sun told reporters.

The Japanese leader, who returned to power in general elections last year, said in the letter the two countries share values of democracy and market economy, Cho added.

Park, who takes office early next year, inherits a fraught relationship with the country's former colonial occupier as the two remain at odds over a slew of historical issues ranging from wartime sex slaves to long-running disputes over a set of islets.

While domestic issues dominated the presidential campaign, the president-elect has said the disputed islets are not subject to negotiations and urged Japan to "squarely face" the issues.

Her father, late dictator Park Chung-hee, signed in 1965 a controversial treaty normalizing diplomatic ties with Japan, which touched off fierce student protests.

Friday's visit also met with protests here. A South Korean member of an anti-Japan civic group stabbed himself in the stomach during a rally denouncing the Japanese leader and protesting Japan's war crimes.

The 63-year-old man, who was taken to a local hospital, was arrested last year for ramming a truck into the Japanese embassy in Seoul.