Japan's foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi has delivered a letter to President Yoon Suk Yeol from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

According to Japan’s Kyodo News on Tuesday, during a meeting at Yoon’s office in Yongsan, Hayashi addressed the need for the two countries to develop bilateral ties based on a friendly and cooperative bond built since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1965.

He said there was no time as urgent as now for strategic cooperation between South Korea and Japan as well as among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, saying the matter of mending relations could no longer be delayed.

The Japanese envoy also mentioned the need for the resolution of pending issues between the neighboring countries, such as the Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor.

Yoon said he looks forward to meeting with Kishida at an early date, according to the Kyodo report, expressing his will to work towards improving South Korea-Japan ties.

Source: KBS World Radio