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| ▲ This composite file photo shows South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. (Yonhap) |
(2nd LD) S Korea-Japan-summit
(2nd LD) Yoon, Kishida agree on need to improve bilateral ties by resolving pending issues
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with details of meeting; CHANGES headline)
By Lee Haye-ah
NEW YORK, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held the first summit talks between the two countries in nearly three years Wednesday and agreed on the need to improve bilateral ties by resolving pending issues, the presidential office said.
The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, marked the first summit between the two nations since December 2019, raising hope of improving relations badly frayed over wartime forced labor and other issues related to Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
"The two leaders agreed on the need to improve bilateral relations by resolving pending issues, and agreed to instruct their diplomats to accelerate talks between them to that end while also continuing discussions between themselves," Lee Jae-myoung, deputy presidential spokesperson, said in a written briefing.
"The two leaders shared serious concern about North Korea's nuclear program, including its recent legalization of nuclear arms and the possibility of a seventh nuclear test, and agreed to cooperate closely with the international community to respond to it," he added.
The meeting, which the presidential office described as "informal talks," lasted 30 minutes in a conference building close to the U.N. headquarters.
Yoon and Kishida had met several times on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Madrid in June, but it was the first time they sat down for one-on-one talks.
Lee said the two also agreed to stand together with the international community in defending the universal values shared by their countries, including a liberal democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
Yoon and Kishida promised to continue communication, Lee added.
Details of the summit had been kept under wrap for days after Japan reportedly balked at South Korea's announcement of the meeting before both sides had fully agreed to it.
The two sides have been locked in a protracted row over the issue of compensation for Korean forced labor victims.
South Korea's top court has ruled that Japanese firms pay compensation to the victims, while Japan has insisted all issues of compensation were settled under a 1965 treaty that normalized relations between the two countries.
The meeting was one of the highlights of Yoon's three-nation swing that began in Britain on Sunday and brought him to New York for the U.N. General Assembly on Monday.
Yoon will visit Toronto and Ottawa on the final legs of his seven-day trip on Thursday and Friday.
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