(VOVworld) – Republic of Korean President Park Geun Hye and visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held their first one-on-one summit in more than three years in Seoul on Monday to orient their bilateral relationship in the years to come.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shakes hands with RoK’s President Park Geun-hye
before a bilateral summit in Seoul. (Photo: YONHAP/Reuters) |
Since she took office in February, 2013, President Park had refused to meet one-on-one with the Japanese Prime Minister because of Japan’s refusal to compensate Korea for “comfort women” who were forced to serve Japanese soldiers during World War II. The RoK has called on Abe to make a “sincere” apology and properly compensate those victims who are still alive. However, Japan says the issue was resolved when Japan and the RoK normalized their relations in 1965.