ISTANBUL

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung landed Saturday in Tokyo for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, according to Yonhap News.

It is the first time a South Korean president has visited Japan ahead of a meeting with a US president.

Lee will travel to Washington after Tokyo, to meet US President Donald Trump.

In an interview with four Japanese newspapers, the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nikkei and the Sankei Shimbun, released Saturday, Lee said he wants to "promote intergovernmental cooperation by sector," including economic security and trade.

He called his visit to Tokyo an opportunity to solidify the foundation for "future-oriented" ties as 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations.

"Korea-Japan relations simultaneously contain aspects of confrontation, cooperation and mutual tolerance. What's important is to identify as many mutually beneficial elements as possible," he said, according to Yonhap. "There is no need to abandon the beneficial aspects because of certain negative ones."

Lee said about the issue of unresolved comfort women that "before it is an economic issue, it is (an) issue of truth and emotion, so acknowledging the facts, apologizing and sincerely empathizing is more important."

"Comfort women" refers to Korean women who were abducted and forced to work as sex slaves for Japan before and during World War II.