HAN DUCK-SOO MEETS WITH JAPAN’S PM

[Anchor Lead]

PM Han Duck-soo, who attended the funeral of former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, has met with the current Japanese leader in Tokyo. The two have agreed to find a solution to the issue of wartime forced labor in order to mend bilateral relations

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who had been waiting at the door, welcomes PM Han Duck-soo and his delegation. The Japanese leader expressed gratitude to the Korean delegation visiting Japan for the state funeral of former PM Shinzo Abe.

[Soundbite] Fumio Kishida(Japanese Prime minister) : "I once again want to thank S. Korea for sending so many messages of condolence."

[Soundbite] Han Duck-soo(S. Korean Prime minister) : "The gov’t has been stressing all along that mending and developing S. Korea-Japan ties as soon as possible will serve both nations well."

In a meeting that lasted about 25 minutes, the duo discussed ways to improve bilateral ties and further develop them by solving issues of bilateral concern, such as wartime forced labor. However, according to the foreign ministry, no detailed discussions on wartime forced labor were held given the high-level nature of the talks.

[Soundbite] Cho Hyun-dong(Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs) : "S. Korea and Japan agree the wartime forced labor issue must be resolved. The two Prime ministers agreed to find a solution as soon as possible."

A Foreign Ministry official added that the possibility of holding a Korea-Japan summit in the future was not mentioned at the meeting, but there may be an opportunity for the leaders of the two nations to meet at multilateral events scheduled for November, such as the ASEAN summit.