By Lee Hana

Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Dec. 19 and discussed Korea-Japan relations and measures related to North Korea.

Minister Kang delivered a message to the prime minister on behalf of President Moon Jae-in, saying that although Korea and Japan still have some unresolved issues related to the past, the hope is that the two countries would be able to wisely overcome these issues through dialogue.

Moreover, the minister said that President Moon stressed the significance of the year 2018, as it will mark the 20th anniversary of the 1998 Joint Declaration for a new Korea-Japan Partnership Toward the 21st Century, signed by former president Kim Dae-jung and former Japanese PM Keizo Obuchi. The minister said the president expressed hopes that the two countries would start a new chapter on this occasion.

Prime Minister Abe said that some meaningful exchanges had been made during the Korea-Japan ministerial meeting that day. Referring to the current North Korea nuclear weapons issue, he said that it's necessary to apply the greatest amount of pressure possible to Pyongyang in order to make the Northern regime change its policies concerning nuclear provocations.

Furthermore, the prime minister hoped that the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games would have a successful launch, and said that he looked forward to seeing President Moon at the Korea-Japan-China summit scheduled to be held next in Japan.

hlee10@korea.kr