Japan and South Korea have broadly agreed to resume a long-suspended security dialogue later this month on the current status of the Korean Peninsula and wider East Asian region, the Japan Times quoted diplomatic sources as saying on Sunday.
The dialogue, involving senior foreign affairs and defense officials, has not been held since December 2009 due to deteriorating bilateral ties over and a territorial dispute and historical issues, including “comfort women” recruited to work in wartime brothels for the Imperial military during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the peninsula.
Foreign ministers of both nations agreed at a meeting in Seoul last month to hold the dialogue at the earliest convenience, the sources said.
Despite the chilled ties between Tokyo and Seoul, both sides judged “it necessary to first hold the security consultations that build trust” before attending to other issues in the face of North Korea’s nuclear development, one of the sources said.
The planned dialogue will focus on how Japan and South Korea view the current situation in East Asia and how close their views are.