HAMBURG- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed at their first one-on-one summit on Friday that the two countries will resume reciprocal visits by their leaders to build a future-oriented bilateral relationship.

During the summit, Abe urged Moon, who took office in May, to implement steadily a Japan-South Korea agreement in December 2015 to "finally and irreversibly" resolve the issue of Korean "comfort women," who were forced to sexually serve Japanese soldiers before and during World War II.

Abe called the comfort women accord an "indispensable foundation" for building a future-oriented relationship.

Moon said both countries should make joint efforts to resolve the thorny issue in a wise way while recognizing the reality that many South Korean people cannot emotionally accept the agreement between the two governments, according to the South Korean government.

During his presidential election campaign, Moon referred to the possibility of seeking to renegotiate the deal. Since taking office in May, however, he has stopped short of directly discussing a renegotiation.

The 35-minute talks between Abe and Moon took place on the sidelines of a two-day summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies in Hamburg that started on Friday. The bilateral meeting was also attended by Shotaro Yachi, head of the secretariat of the Japanese government's National Security Council, and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.

Based on the outcome of Thursday's trilateral summit, also involving US President Donald Trump, Abe and Moon confirmed close cooperation between their countries and among the three allies in response to the latest ballistic missile launch by North Korea earlier this week.

With Moon apparently positive about holding a dialogue with the North, Abe stressed that now is not the time for dialogue but for maximum pressure on the reclusive country.

Abe mentioned a need to cut off North Korea 's sources of foreign currency, in order to make it difficult for the country to continue its nuclear and missile programs.

Elsewhere in the bilateral summit, Abe asked Moon to visit Japan for an envisaged trilateral summit with China . The South Korean president indicated that he plans to make the trip. (Jiji Press)