"South Korea is out of step with Japan and the United States" as South Korean President Moon Jae-in's administration is leaning toward holding dialogue with Pyongyang, a senior official at the Japanese Foreign Ministry lamented.

 "We need to keep in close touch with South Korea, including through vice-ministerial talks," another government source stressed.

 South Korea's National Defense Ministry proposed to North Korea on Monday that military officials of the two countries hold talks in Panmunjom on Friday to end hostile activities around the military demarcation line that divides the two Koreas.

 The Japanese government believes that Seoul and Pyongyang are unlikely to hold in-depth talks on the nuclear and missile issues in the proposed talks, which are expected to address the issue of emergency communications in case of a contingency around the MDL, informed sources said.

 Still, the government is worried that the Moon administration may easily make concession to North Korea, the sources said.

 Tokyo will continue to work to persuade Seoul of the importance of Japan-US-South Korea cooperation in dealing with North Korea, and urge the South not to ease pressure on the North, the sources said.

 At his first summit with Moon, held in Germany on July 7, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed that now is not the time for dialogue with North Korea but the time to add maximum pressure on it.

 However, the South Korean leader, who took office in May, made the dialogue offer, in defiance of Abe's warning.

 Still, the Japanese government is refraining from officially criticizing the Moon administration, as Tokyo is eager to improve its relations with Seoul and wants to avoid any problems with the neighboring country in that context.

 "We don't think the dialogue offer will cause a problem regarding the Japan-US-South Korea position of strengthening pressure on North Korea," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference on Tuesday. (Jiji Press)