TOKYO, Oct. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan on Wednesday returned an ancient stele commemorating the defeat of 16th-century Japanese invaders of the Korea Peninsula to Korean people.

    A ceremony was held at the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyowhere the Bukgwandaecheopbi (Grand Victory of North Pass Battle) monument is kept, attended by officials from Japanese Foreign Ministry and the South Korean Embassy. They signed a document.

    According to Kyodo News, the monument will be flown to South Korea in a few days, placed on pubic display and eventually handed over to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, where the monument was originally installed in 1709.

    The 210-cm high, 65-cm wide and 13.5-cm thick stele was built in memory of Korean Admiral Li Sun Sin who fought against Japanese expeditions launched by warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) who attempted to conquer the Korea Peninsula in the late 1590s.

    The 1500-word epigraph engraved on the stele records brave stories of Korean militia in the battle against Japanese aggressors.

    The stele was taken and brought back to Tokyo by Japanese military forces during the Japan-Russia War of 1904-1905. Since April 1906, the stele has been kept by the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A war criminals responsible for Japan's aggression war against its Asian neighbors before and during the World War II.

    South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea made a joint decision in August asking Japan to return the stele. Enditem