South Korean President Moon Jae-in conveyed a message to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe through visiting Tokyo South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak Yeon, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on the backdrop of a recent deterioration in relations between the two countries.
According to the ministry, Prime Minister Abe said at a meeting with Lee Nak Yeon that “Japan and the Republic of Korea are important neighboring countries for each other, it is extremely important for them to interact with each other, as well as with the United States, especially on North Korean issues”.
“Although the current situation in Japanese-South Korean relations is extremely difficult, and I think you just can’t leave this unattended”, – the Japanese prime minister said.
According to him, South Korea should keep its promises to improve relations with Japan.
Their aggravation began this summer after a court decision in South Korea on compensation to Koreans whose forced labor was used by Japanese companies during the years of colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula in 1910-1945.
In 1965, at the conclusion of diplomatic relations between Seoul and Tokyo, the Japanese paid a lump sum of compensation for the total damage from colonialism to South Korea, given that the issue would be finally closed.
The decision of the South Korean court and measures against the ownership of Japanese companies in South Korea prompted Japan to cancel the facilitated export procedure for its nanomaterials used in the electronic industry by Korean companies. Seoul imposed its restrictive measures and refused to renew the agreement on the exchange of military information.
As reported by Yonhap news Agency, the message of President Moon Jae-in, who sent the head of his government, Lee Nak Yeon, to the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito in Japan, occupies one page of text.
In it, President moon called South Korea and Japan ” important partners who must cooperate for the sake of peace and security in northeast Asia”.
According to the Japanese foreign Ministry, the meeting of the Prime Ministers of Japan and South Korea in Tokyo lasted 20 minutes.