A delegation sent by South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol arrived in Japan on Sunday for talks with Japanese officials ahead of his inauguration next month, amid expectations he will work to improve bilateral ties that have soured over wartime issues.

During the delegation's five-day visit through Thursday, its members are expected to convey to Japanese political and business leaders, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, that the incoming leader will put an emphasis on Seoul-Tokyo ties.

"We hope to become a new bridge between the two countries and share a constructive future," Chung Jin Suk, the delegation head and deputy speaker of the National Assembly, told reporters in Tokyo.

He said earlier this month in a Facebook post that it would be "difficult to quickly turn around South Korea-Japan ties just because a new administration is launched." He cited the thorny issue of compensation orders against Japanese companies in South Korean courts for wartime labor rendered by Koreans under Japanese rule.

But as Northeast Asia faces North Korean nuclear issues and a rapidly changing international environment, the South Korean lawmaker said ramping up "strategic cooperation" between South Korea and Japan will contribute to the peace and prosperity of the region.

A member of the conservative People Power Party, Chung is a close aide to Yoon. He is one of the president-elect's earliest supporters as Yoon clashed with the government of outgoing President Moon Jae In as the nation's top prosecutor and turned his sights on the presidency.

For its part, the Japanese government intends to use the delegation's visit to have close communication with the incoming administration in a bid to return the bilateral relationship to a "healthy" state.

Arrangements are under way for Kishida to meet with the delegation, but lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are divided over whether Kishida should do so.

As the South Korean side is said to be hoping for the Japanese premier to attend Yoon's inaugural ceremony on May 10, some LDP lawmakers are dead set against the idea of him going.

Reports have emerged that if the delegation meets with Kishida, its members may ask him to attend the inauguration.

Bilateral ties deteriorated during Moon's five-year tenure.

Japan has maintained that the ball is in South Korea's court to repair them. The stance is based on the view that the two main issues between the two countries -- "comfort women," who were procured for Japan's wartime military brothels, and compensation for wartime Korean laborers -- have already been resolved by bilateral agreements.

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