ISTANBUL

The “strategic cooperation” between Tokyo and Seoul “is needed more than ever,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a visiting South Korean delegation on Tuesday.

“Given that the rules-based international order is threatened, strategic cooperation between Japan and South Korea, as well as Japan, the US, and South Korea are needed more than ever,” Kishida told the delegation sent by South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol.

“We have no time to spare in improving Japan-South Korea relations,” Kishida said, according to Kyodo News.

Chung Jin Suk, the deputy speaker of South Korea’s National Assembly, is leading the delegation which is on a five-day trip to Japan.

They met Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi besides defense and industry policy chiefs a day earlier and Chung told reporters that the two sides agreed to “maintain and beef up bilateral relations.”

Bilateral ties between the Asian nations, allies of the US in the region, have nosedived due to issues stemming from Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

Seoul has demanded restitution from Tokyo for what it refers to as “wartime forced labor.” Tokyo considers the issue to have been resolved in the past.

Yoon, however, has been calling for a “future-oriented” approach in South Korea’s relations with Japan. He is set to be sworn-in on May 10.

Chung handed a letter from the conservative president-elect to Kishida during Tuesday’s meeting.

Kishida said: “We need to resolve issues lying between Japan and South Korea including the wartime labor of Koreans, which has been a major sticking point.”

Later at a news conference, Kishida said: “It’s important that states keep promises made between them.

“We will communicate closely with the next President Yoon and his government based on our consistent stance, so our ties will return to a healthy state.”