Japan, ROK consider resuming director general-level talks

TOKYO - Japan and the Republic of Korea are considering a director general-level talks in April, which may set the stage for a summit, local media reported Thursday.

Japan's Kyodo News cited diplomatic sources of Japanese Foreign Ministry as saying that the ROK insists the talks should be exclusively focused on "comfort women", a euphemism for women forced into sex slavery in the Japanese military brothels during the World War II, while Japan hopes to discuss a range of bilateral issues.

According to the sources, if the two sides couldn't narrow their gaps on the agenda, the timing of the envisaged meeting may be delayed.

Japan, the ROK and the US held a trilateral meeting Tuesday on the sidelines of the international nuclear conference in The Hague. The talks, involving Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the ROK's Prime Minister Park Geun-hye and US President Barack Obama, marked the first face-to-face meeting between Abe and Park since they took office.

But the three administrations chose a topic on which their leaders could easily agree: the need to cooperate in dealing with the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear programs, instead of taking up contentious issues such as historical and territorial problems between Japan and the ROK. In order to improve relations with its neighboring countries, Japan needs to take more substantial actions on sensitive issues, the report said.