Japan urges appropriate response from South Korea on wartime compensation issue

By Ahmet Furkan Mercan

TOKYO (AA) - Japan on Sunday called on South Korea to give an “appropriate response” to resolve the wartime compensation issue in bilateral relations.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi met and discussed bilateral relations with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui Yong during a G7 foreign ministerial meeting in Liverpool, England, Kyodo News reported.

Touching on the importance of Japan-US-South Korea trilateral cooperation in the face of North Korea's regional missile threats, the duo agreed to establish a healthy relationship between the two countries.

During the meeting, Hayashi called on Seoul to give an "appropriate response” to solve the issue of compensation for forced wartime laborers.

Tokyo is calling on South Korea to take steps towards a solution, declaring that the compensation issue was "finally and fully" resolved under a bilateral agreement signed in 1965.

Relations between the two countries have been hurt by the issue of abused Korean women in the Korean Peninsula, where Japan ruled during World War II, and a conflict over the Liancourt Rocks archipelago between the two countries.