Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is eyeing talks with new South Korean President Moon Jae-in in July or earlier to discuss the thorny "comfort women" agreement and three-way cooperation with the United States to address growing threats from North Korea, diplomatic sources said Saturday.

While Abe will most likely seek a meeting on the sidelines of the summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Hamburg, Germany, in early July, Tokyo is also exploring the possibility of having Moon, who took office May 10, visit Japan on his way back from a planned trip to the United States in late June, they said.

Moon has called for renegotiating the 2015 agreement the preceding administration struck with Japan to "finally and irreversibly" resolve the long-standing issue of Korean women forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels.