The foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea have agreed to closely cooperate on North Korean issues, and promote private-level exchanges between the two countries.
Japan's Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko held talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin in San Francisco on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
The two ministers agreed their countries should closely cooperate in dealing with North Korea's nuclear and missile development and its abduction of foreign nationals, as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and other challenges.
They welcomed the recent communication between diplomatic officials of Japan and South Korea. Last month, the vice foreign ministers of the two countries held their strategic dialogue for the first time since 2014.
Kamikawa and Park also agreed to support dialogue and exchanges at the private level.
Kamikawa talked about her recent visit to the Middle East and explained Japan's efforts to seek an improvement of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
She referred to Japanese and South Korean nationals boarding the aircraft of each other's countries when they were evacuated from Israel. Kamikawa said she hopes to see more bilateral cooperation.