Abe seen meeting with Moon on Feb. 9

January 27, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will hold a meeting on Feb. 9 at a site near the venue of the opening ceremony for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea, Japanese government sources said Friday.

The bilateral summit will precede the Olympic opening ceremony, which is also scheduled for Feb. 9, the sources said.

At the meeting, Abe is expected to call on South Korea to steadily implement the December 2015 bilateral agreement to "finally and irreversibly" resolve the issue of so-called comfort women, mainly Koreans, who were allegedly forced into prostitution for Japanese troops before and during World War II, the sources said.

Abe also hopes to confirm with Moon the policy of continuing to apply pressure on North Korea over the reclusive country's nuclear and missile programs, according to the sources.

Moon has criticized the 2015 accord, saying that it is seriously flawed. He has also frozen the one billion yen that the Japanese government contributed to a South Korea foundation set up based on the accord for supporting former comfort women.

At a parliamentary meeting on Friday, Abe stressed that the accord is an essential foundation for future-oriented relations between Japan and South Korea. He also indicated that Tokyo cannot accept any demand by South Korea for follow-up measures on the comfort women issue.

Abe will directly convey these stances to Moon at their expected meeting, the sources said.

Abe will attend the opening ceremony for the Pyeongchang Olympics and encourage Japanese athletes participating in the games.

It will be the first time for the prime minister to visit South Korea since November 2015, when he attended a trilateral summit in Seoul with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and then South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Jiji Press