Busan, Nov 26 (IANS) South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin held bilateral talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in Busan on Sunday, ahead of the trilateral gathering involving their Chinese counterpart.
In the talks with Kamikawa, Park was expected to discuss ways to move the bilateral relations forward amid a thaw in the ties after South Korea decided to resolve the issue of compensating Korean forced labour victims during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula without asking for contributions from Japanese companies.
The decision led to a dramatic warming of Seoul-Tokyo relations and the resumption of reciprocal visits by their leaders, Yonhap news agency reported.
They were also likely to discuss a South Korean appeals court’s ruling earlier this week that overturned the lower court’s decision and ordered Japan to pay 200 million won ($153,800) in compensation to each of the 16 victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery.
North Korea’s recent launch of a military spy satellite and its growing military cooperation with Russia were also expected to be on the table, with discussions on efforts to coordinate responses bilaterally and also trilaterally with the US, their mutual key ally.
Japan’s release of the treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant could also be addressed, although it has had little impact on the bilateral relations under the South Korean-led Yoon Suk Yeol government.
South Korea has said the discharge will have little effect on the environment as long as it is done in a scientifically safe manner.
Kamikawa arrived in Busan, the venue for the trilateral gathering, on Saturday, her first visit to South Korea since she took office in September.
Park and Kamikawa last met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco earlier this month.
–IANS
int/khz
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