Japanese, S. Korean foreign ministers to meet next week

January 18, 2019

Tokyo--Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono is considering holding talks with his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, in Switzerland on Wednesday, Japanese government sources said Thursday.

This will mark the first meeting between the two countries' foreign ministers since the South Korean Supreme Court ordered Japan's Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. <5401> to pay compensation to South Korean plaintiffs over wartime labor in October.

Both Kono and Kang are scheduled to attend an annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, set for Tuesday through Jan. 25 in Davos.

During his meeting with Kang, Kono is expected to reiterate Tokyo's position that the right to claim war-related damages had been terminated by an agreement signed between Japan and South Korea in 1965.

Relations between the two countries have been strained by recent South Korean rulings against Japanese companies over wartime labor as well as Tokyo's claim that a South Korean destroyer directed its fire-control radar at a Japanese patrol plane last month. Jiji Press