Oct 04 , 2019. KYODO NEWS
[Pool photo]
The two leaders met from 8:35 a.m. in a waiting room ahead of a summit involving ASEAN leaders plus Japan, China and South Korea in the Thai capital. They also shook hands and chatted with each other during a gala dinner the previous evening.
They last held a formal one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in September last year.
Late last month, South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak Yon handed Abe a private letter from Moon during his visit to Japan to attend Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Wha explained that Moon expressed his openness to talks with Abe in the letter.
Tensions between the neighbors have escalated since October last year, when South Korea’s top court ordered a Japanese company to pay compensation for forced labor during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Japan maintains the issue of compensation was settled when the countries established ties under a 1965 agreement, with Tokyo providing $500 million to Seoul for “economic cooperation.”
The dispute has spilled over into the areas of trade and security. Japan imposed stricter export controls on some key materials needed by South Korea’s tech industry, while Seoul has said it will end a military intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo, which is scheduled to expire later this month.
CR: KYODO NEWS
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