Japan Foreign Ministry Official To Visit S.korea
NHK has learned that a senior Japanese foreign ministry official will visit South Korea from Wednesday, apparently to seek a breakthrough to improve bilateral ties.
Takizaki Shigeki, the director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau will stay in South Korea for three days.
He is scheduled to hold talks with his counterpart Kim Jung-han to discuss the issue of wartime labor and other matters.
In 2018, South Korea's Supreme Court ordered a Japanese company to compensate Koreans who say they were forced to work for the company during World War Two.
Earlier this month, a South Korean court moved forward with procedures that could lead to the sale of assets seized from the Japanese firm.
Takizaki is expected to demand that Seoul rectify what Tokyo calls a situation in which international law is being violated, stressing that if the sale of assets takes place, it could seriously damage bilateral ties.
The Japanese government says any right to claims was settled completely and finally in 1965 when Japan and South Korea normalized ties.
Takizaki is also expected to convey Tokyo's stance that unless South Korea handles the wartime labor issue appropriately, Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide won't take part in a trilateral summit with South Korea and China.
The three countries take turns hosting the summit. It's set to take place in South Korea this year.
