TRILATERAL TALKS TAKE PLACE IN LONDON

[Anchor Lead]

Foreign ministers of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have met in London and pledged cooperation on Washington's North Korea policies. Foreign ministers of Korea and Japan have held their first bilateral talks. They reiterated their existing stances on the issues of comfort women lawsuits and the release of radioactive water.

[Pkg]

South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi sit down for their first talk, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken seated in the middle. The three diplomats met face to face for the first time in over a year on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting. Blinken outlined Washington's new policies on North Korea, while the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan agreed to bolster cooperation on working towards denuclearization on the peninsula. The South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers later held bilateral talks that lasted 20 minutes. In the official photos, the two diplomats are seen with stiff looks on their faces, and there are no national flags at the venue of the talks. Although they have reiterated their commitment to denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, they failed to narrow differences on the issues of bilateral concern. The South Korean diplomat expressed deep regret over Tokyo's decision to release treated radioactive water without discussing the matter with the neighboring nations and voiced Korea's opposition. Kyodo News reported that the Japanese foreign minister pledged to continue to provide information on the matter and expressed concerns over Seoul's response. Regarding the lawsuits filed by the victims of Japanese wartime sexual slavery, Motegi reiterated Tokyo's stance that Seoul must present a viable solution that Tokyo can accept. The South Korean foreign minister responded by saying that past issues cannot be resolved without Japan's correct recognition of history. South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says although the two diplomats have agreed to continue to work closely on bilateral issues, it will likely take a while to improve relations between Korea and Japan.