Korea's Director-general for Asian and Pacific affairs Kim Jung-han met his new Japanese counterpart for the first time today in Tokyo.
They exchanged views on a range of bilateral issues, including Korea's Supreme Court ruling against Japan's wartime forced labor.
Seoul's foreign ministry said Kim explained to Shigeki Takizaki that Seoul respects the court's ordering of Japanese firms to compensate Korean forced laborers during Japan's colonial rule.
He also urged Tokyo to pull back its retaliatory economic curbs against Korea and resolve the issue through dialogue.
The two directors are also thought to have discussed a possible meeting between the nations' foreign ministers on the sidelines of next week's UN General Assembly in New York.
If organized,... it will be Kang Kyung-wha's first meeting with Japan's newly-appointed foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi.