(Bloomberg) -- Top South Korean and Japanese diplomats will likely meet on the sidelines of a gathering of Asian and European foreign ministers later this month to discuss a resolution to a year-long dispute, Yonhap News reported.
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi are expected to table the contentious forced-labor issue, the root of recent tensions between the two, at a bilateral meeting in Madrid, the report said, without citing the source of the information. The meeting is expected to take place around the Dec. 15-16 ministerial gathering, and before an expected trilateral summit with China in December.
A disagreement over compensation for Korean workers forced into labor during the 1910-1945 colonization by Japan spread to various sectors this year. Tokyo has implemented export curbs on South Korea, which threatened to terminate a bilateral military intelligence-sharing pact. Many Korean consumers have also boycotted Japanese products and canceled trips to Japan.
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Kang and Motegi last met in late November, just hours after Seoul temporarily and conditionally suspended a termination of the military information pact with Japan.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kanga Kong in Seoul at kkong50@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Siraj Datoo
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