South Korean President Moon Jae In has expressed expectations that the government led by his successor to be picked in an election next month will keep striving to improve ties with Japan, describing it as a leftover task from his presidency.

In a recent written interview with major news agencies, Moon, whose five-year term ends in May, called Japan "the closest of neighboring countries," adding that his government has tried to achieve stable relations with Japan by approaching history issues and future-oriented cooperation separately.

"I expect the next administration to work hard to develop Korea-Japan relations. It is necessary to strengthen dialogue and communication between Korea and Japan to deal with such new challenges as climate change responses and issues related to global supply chains as well as matters regarding the past and the Korean Peninsula," said Moon.

South Korean President Moon Jae In poses for photos in Seoul on Feb. 8, 2022. (Pool photo)(Kyodo)

Seoul and Tokyo have long been at odds over wartime forced labor and the issue of "comfort women," a euphemism for women in Japan's military brothels before and during World War II. Many of the women were from the Korean Peninsula, which was under Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945.

Moon, therefore, voiced worries over Tokyo's recent attempt to register a gold and silver mine site on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture on the 2023 UNESCO World Heritage list, as the island is one of the places where Koreans were forced to work before and during the war.

South Korea's Foreign Minister Chung Eui Yong expressed disappointment last week over Japan's move in his phone talks with Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi.

"To find a solution that can be accepted by victims and promote true reconciliation, I believe a sincere attitude and mindset toward history matter the most," said Moon.

The president said he is still always open for talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and so is his government for any suggestions from Japan.

"There are no plans for a summit meeting," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday, describing Japan-South Korea ties as being in "severe conditions."

With bilateral ties worsened considerably in recent years over issues such as compensation to wartime laborers and comfort women, Japan is demanding that South Korea make an "appropriate response" to deal with them.

The top government spokesman reiterated the stance, saying a South Korean response is necessary to return bilateral ties to "healthy" ones. "We cannot leave them as they are," he said.

Regarding the South Korean objection over Japan's latest gold mine nomination, Matsuno said Tokyo will hold discussions about the issue with other countries including South Korea in a "calm and careful manner."

Moon also highlighted the importance of holding talks when he touched on the issues regarding North Korea and its denuclearization.

During his presidency from 2017, he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times, while seeing the United States and North Korea hold summit talks for the first time in history, which were thought to be a positive sign along the road map to denuclearization.

The Washington-Pyongyang talks, however, have been at a stalemate since the second summit talks between then U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim held in Hanoi in 2019 ended without a deal.

"The 'Hanoi No Deal' brought North Korea-U.S. talks and inter-Korean dialogue -- both of which had been on an upswing until then -- to a halt and caused a long stalemate," Moon said.

Moon voiced hope that U.S. President Joe Biden's administration would be able to hold fresh talks with the North and that it was just a matter of time. He also expressed expectations that his successor would continue to address North Korean issues based on Seoul's alliance with Washington.

The president stressed that dialogue and diplomacy with North Korea should be continued with efforts from the leaders of concerned countries to proceed with denuclearization and build a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea and other members of the international community have shown deep concerns over North Korea's seven missile launches last month.

"If North Korea's series of missile launches goes as far as scrapping a moratorium on long-range missile tests, the Korean Peninsula may instantly fall back into the state of crisis we faced five years ago," Moon warned. Pyongyang recently hinted at resuming nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.


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