S. KOREA-JAPAN HIGH-LEVEL MEETING

[Anchor Lead]

South Korea's spy chief Park Ji won has met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Tuesday. They discussed a range of pending issues including wartime forced labor but reportedly mainly confirmed their differences without making any major progress. But, the fact that a high-level meeting even took place is seen as a meaningful step to ease strained ties between the two nations.

[Pkg]

National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won is the first senior South Korean official to pay a courtesy call to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Their meeting lasted about 30 minutes.

[Soundbite] PARK JIE-WON(NIS DIRECTOR) : "I conveyed greetings from Pres. Moon and his will to normalize bilateral ties."

Park said he sufficiently conveyed Seoul's stance regarding the issue of compensating victims of Tokyo's wartime forced labor, the biggest sticking point in bilateral relations.

[Soundbite] PARK JIE-WON(NIS DIRECTOR) : "The two countries' leaders agree on the need to resolve issues and I believe continued dialogue will produce results."

The spy chief also said he mentioned the Korea-Japan-China summit which Seoul is seeking to host within this year, possibly meaning that Suga may visit Korea to attend the trilateral meeting. Park however noted that he did not convey a personal letter from President Moon Jae-in this time round. Prime Minister Suga is known to have reiterated the view that Japanese firms must not suffer damage due to a Korean Supreme Court ruling ordering them to compensate forced labor victims. He also reportedly did not give a clear answer on whether or not he will attend the trilateral summit. As closed-door working-level discussions between Seoul and Tokyo continue, such high-level meetings are considered meaningful.

[Soundbite] TOSHIMITSU MOTEGI(JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER) : "It was productive to continue talks when bilateral relations are experiencing difficulty."

From Thursday, Korean lawmakers from the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians Union will also visit Tokyo to meet with Japanese officials.