Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida called on Thursday for joint efforts with South Korea to advance bilateral relations, including holding a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Park Geun-hye.
In a meeting in Tokyo with Cho Tae-yong, South Korea's first vice foreign minister, Kishida stressed the importance of "continuing and deepening communications . . . at high political levels," the Foreign Ministry said.
In a meeting in New York last week, Kishida and his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se, agreed to continue efforts to arrange an Abe-Park summit.
Cho told Kishida that he would like to make next year, the 50th anniversary of Japanese-South Korean diplomatic relations, a good year for both countries, according to the ministry.
Due to the strain in relations over the "comfort women" issue and other disputes, Abe and Park have not held one-on-one talks since taking office.
Cho was in Tokyo to attend a Japan-South Korea strategic dialogue Wednesday with Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki.
