Japan and South Korea still have a way to go to create the required conditions allowing the leaders from both countries, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, to meet, Japan's ambassador in Seoul, Koji Tomita, said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th November, 2020) Japan and South Korea still have a way to go to create the required conditions allowing the leaders from both countries, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, to meet, Japan's ambassador in Seoul, Koji Tomita, said on Friday.
"So the challenge is to create an environment where the two leaders can meet and respond to that kind of expectation held by the people in both countries," Tomita said at the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, as quoted by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
The ambassador said that people in both countries had the expectation that the leaders should be able to meet in order to resolve many of the outstanding bilateral issues, the agency reported.
Tokyo and Seoul have been locked in a trade row since the summer of 2019 when the former removed South Korea from its so-called export white list. Both countries have subsequently implemented tit-for-tat measures targeting specific goods.
The heart of the trade dispute centers around the atrocities committed by Japan during its occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, particularly the use of forced labor and the forced prostitution of tens of thousands of "comfort women."
Japan and South Korea signed a deal in 2015 designed to resolve the "comfort women" matter by forcing Tokyo to pay compensation to the families of victims.
