The foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea agreed Monday they will seek the early settlement of a dispute about the issue of compensation demands from South Koreans over wartime labor, which has frayed bilateral relations.
Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his South Korean counterpart Park Jin reached the agreement in a meeting in Tokyo, the first formal sit-down between them since South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's inauguration on May 10, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
Park told Hayashi he will make efforts to produce "desirable solutions" before the liquidation of Japanese corporate assets in South Korea that plaintiffs in wartime labor lawsuits have seized, the ministry said.