|
TOKYO, Oct. 24-- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks with South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon in Tokyo on Thursday amid strained ties between the two countries over wartime issues that have spilled over into a tit-for-tat trade row. The Japanese prime minister has been meeting with foreign dignitaries, including Lee, who attended Emperor Naruhito's enthronement proclamation ceremony on Tuesday. The talks held at Abe's office lasted about 20-minutes and began with a cordial handshake between the pair in front of the press. After the meeting, Lee told reporters that he had handed his Japanese counterpart a letter from South Korean President Moon Jae-in, although officials from both sides alluded to a lack of tangible progress being made during the meeting in bringing the bitter two-way spat to an end. Japan and South Korea have seen bilateral ties sink to their lowest level in recent years following South Korea's top court last year ordering Japanese firms to pay compensation to forced laborers during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. Japan, for its part, has claimed the rulings are not in line with international law and run contrary to the foundation of friendly and cooperative relations between the two neighbors since the 1965 normalization of diplomatic ties. Japan maintains the matter of compensation for wartime labor was "finally and completely" resolved under the pact. | 
