S. Korea, Japan's FMs hold talks on bilateral ties, N. Korea

The top diplomats of South Korea and Japan have met and discussed bilateral ties and North Korean issues on the margins of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Peru, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and his Japanese counterpart, Takeshi Iwaya, held a meeting in Lima on Thursday (local time), where the top diplomats accompanied their leaders on the APEC summit, according to the ministry.

It marked the first in-person meeting between Cho and Iwaya since the top Japanese diplomat took office last month with the launch of the new leadership in Tokyo under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

In the meeting, they have agreed to closely cooperate to flesh out various commemorative projects to mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of the two nations' diplomatic relationship next year.

The top diplomats have also decided to make efforts to "wisely" manage pending issues between the two nations and upgrade the bilateral relationship to another level, according to the ministry.

South Korea and Japan are believed to be in consultations for a memorial service that Japan has promised to hold to honor forced labor victims at the Sado gold and silver mines.

The Sado mine complex — one of the world's largest gold producers in the 17th century — was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July after Tokyo agreed to set up exhibits on its history and hold a regular memorial service to honor the forced labor victims.

On North Korea, they shared the view that North Korea's troop deployment to Russia poses a "serious" threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond it.

To deal with deepening military ties between the North and Russia and Pyongyang's nuclear issue, Cho and Iwaya stressed the need to closely cooperate between Seoul and Tokyo as well as bolster trilateral cooperation also involving the United States. (Yonhap)