Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he is eager to improve ties with Seoul in a "forward-looking" manner despite a bilateral row over South Korea-controlled islets to which Tokyo lays claim.

Abe voiced the eagerness in a meeting with former Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, a veteran legislator of Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party who heads the Japanese group of a bilateral lawmakers' league. "I attach great importance to Japan-South Korea relations. I hope you work hard in pursuing legislator-led diplomacy," Abe told Nukaga, who along with former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met South Korean President Park Geun Hye after her inauguration last week.