Japan and South Korea are arranging a summit meeting for next week in Lithuania, a government source said Wednesday, with Tokyo seeking to gain understanding from its neighbors on its planned release of treated water from the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol are set to meet on the sidelines of a two-day NATO summit from Tuesday in the Baltic state, the source said.
Tokyo aims to start discharging the treated radioactive water around this summer.
The Japan-South Korea summit would come about a week after the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday presented Kishida with its safety review on Tokyo's plan to release the water into the sea.
The report said Japan's water discharge plan aligns with international safety standards and will have "a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment."
South Korea respects the review's outcome, a government official said Wednesday, but a backlash has been growing over the planned release from the opposition bloc amid concerns that the move could hurt the marine environment, food safety and human health.
It would be the first time for Kishida and Yoon to hold talks since they met during the Group of Seven summit in Japan's western city of Hiroshima in May.
In Lithuania, Kishida and Yoon are expected to agree to make efforts to enhance ties between Japan and South Korea through frequent dialogue, the source said, adding they are also likely to discuss how to tackle North Korea's nuclear and missile development.
Japan-South Korea relations had reached their lowest point in decades under the left-wing government of Yoon's predecessor, Moon Jae In, over wartime issues.
Since South Korea's announcement of a solution to a wartime labor compensation dispute in early March, bilateral ties have been steadily improving, diffusing the tensions between the two countries.
While the Asian neighbors are not members of NATO, they are partners of the trans-Atlantic alliance.
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