(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.
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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