South Korea and Japan held working-level diplomatic talks this afternoon to discuss Tokyo's wartime forced labor and export curbs.
The meeting comes a week ahead of South Korean Prime Minister's visit to Japan to attend the emperor's enthronement ceremony.
Oh Jung-hee reports.
Following through on their promise to meet once a month, senior diplomats of South Korea and Japan met Wednesday to discuss the issues that've recently divided them.
South Korea's director-general for Asian and Pacific affairs, Kim Jung-han , met with his Japanese counterpart Shigeki Takizaki at Seoul's foreign ministry.
The main talking points -- the South Korean Supreme court ruling last year calling for Japan to compensate the people it used in wartime forced labor... and Tokyo's export restrictions.
The South Korean side pointed out that Japan's export curbs are retaliation for that court ruling and called for the restrictions to be quickly withdrawn, while highlighting the need to continue dialogue.
South Korea also brought up its concerns about radioactive waste from the 2011 Fukushima meltdown.
That is... regarding how Japan is considering dumping contaminated water to the sea... and the bags of radioactive waste that were lost over the weekend due to Typhoon Hagibis.
This working-level meeting comes a week before South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon visits Japan to attend Emperor Naruhito's enthronement ceremony.
According to Seoul's foreign ministry, talks between Prime Minister Lee and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have not been confirmed but are highly likely.
Prime Minister Abe has also highlighted the need to mend ties with Seoul.
Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, Abe said... it's imperative to continue dialogue with South Korea and he hopes there'll be an opportunity for ties to be rebuilt.
However, the Japanese leader still put the blame on Seoul, saying South Korea is breaching trust by supposedly violating their 1965 agreement.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.