Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine urged South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Tuesday to remove a "comfort woman" statue that has been the source of a diplomatic row, a source close to the matter said.

The two met for the first time since the envoy returned to Seoul on April 4, after he was recalled to Japan for three months as a retaliatory measure by Tokyo over the erection of the statue commemorating Korean women forced to work in wartime Japanese military brothels, in front of the Japanese Consulate General in Busan.

The meeting was held behind closed doors except for the outset of the talks. Marc Knapper, acting U.S. ambassador to South Korea, also joined the meeting as the three diplomats reaffirmed trilateral cooperation in dealing with the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile development, the source said.