South Korea's Top Diplomat Arrives In Tokyo In Bid To Repair Bilateral Ties

South Korea's Foreign Minister Park begins his three-day visit to Japan today, during which he will hold talks with his counterpart Hayashi, in a bid to mend bilateral ties damaged by unresolved historical disputes.

• Park's trip provides an opportunity for the first meeting between South Korean and Japanese top diplomats in four years, during which the two countries struggled to break an impasse in disputes related to wartime forced labour and other historical issues.
• However, a changing security landscape has forced Seoul and Tokyo to launch another diplomatic push aiming to repair bilateral relations. The two East Asian nations face the risk of an imminent North Korean nuclear test and China's increasingly assertive posturing.
• Park and Hayashi are due to meet this afternoon and media reports suggest that they will discuss aforementioned historical disputes. Some source reports noted that Park will also meet with Prime Minister Kishida.
• South Korea's new ambassador to Japan, Yun Duk-min, arrived in Tokyo on Saturday, just in time to welcome his boss. The envoy said that President Yoon asked him to "restore South Korea-Japan relations as soon as possible to when they were best."