Our top story this morning.
The leaders of South Korea, China and Japan are likely to meet toward the end of the year for a three-way summit.
But a one-on-one sit-down between President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may not be on the cards this year,... given the deteriorating ties between the two neighbors.
Oh Soo-young reports.
Reports out of Japan say the leaders of South Korea, China and Japan are likely to meet around Christmas time.
Tokyo-based Kyodo News Agency on Monday cited diplomatic sources,... who said the three countries are coordinating efforts to organize a summit before the turn of the year.
The move comes after last week's three-way meeting of their foreign ministers in Beijing.
Responding to the Kyodo report,... South Korea's Presidential Office spokesperson Koh Min-jung said a meeting has yet to be confirmed.
While bilateral summits usually take place on the sidelines of the three-way leaders' meeting,... observers say a meeting between the South Korean and Japanese leaders may not materialize this time around.
Ties between Seoul and Tokyo began deteriorating last year after the South Korean Supreme Court ordered Japanese firms to compensate a group of Koreans for forcing them to work for little to no pay during Japan's colonial rule of Korea.
Japan opposed the ruling,... insisting the case was closed after a 1965 treaty normalizing South Korea-Japan ties.
Following Japan's series of trade actions against South Korean companies,... which have been seen by international observers as a means of political retaliation,... South Korea has consistently called for bilateral dialogue to try and resolve the issue.
However, as the Abe administration keeps shrugging off the attempts, Seoul also decided to drop Japan from its whitelist of trusted trade partners as well.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday called on South Korea to maintain bilateral agreements reached in the past.
Despite strong criticism that he was the one to trigger the conflict,... placing unilateral restrictions on South Korean companies over unresolved historical issues,... Abe insists the lack of trust is down to South Korea.
"Unfortunately, responses that undermine the trust and confidence between one country and another are continuing, which is regrettable. Therefore, first of all, we would like to request that country-to-country promises be honored."
He said the South Korean government's recent decision to end GSOMIA, a bilateral intel-sharing pact with Japan, shows Seoul continues to breach trust with Tokyo.
The Japanese leader made similar remarks last Thursday, calling on South Korea to work toward rebuilding trust and to stick to their bilateral agreement on forced wartime labor.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.