Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se, agreed Sunday to step up their efforts to set up a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Park Geun-hye "at an appropriate time."
The talks took place a day before the wartime foes were to mark the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties.
"We came to share the importance of holding a (Japan-South Korea) summit," Kishida told reporters after two hours of talks with Yun at the Foreign Ministry's Iikura Guesthouse. "We will continue our effort to set up the meeting at the earliest time possible."