South Korea, Japan hold 'strategic dialogue' after 9 years

Officials from South Korea and Japan held on Thursday "strategic dialogue" after nine years amid warming bilateral ties, Yonhap news agency reported.

First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin met his Japanese counterpart Masataka Okano in Seoul, as Japan began the second phase of releasing treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Relations remained tensed for several years, but South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office last May, worked to improve ties.

In March, in a major headway in ending a decades-long wartime labor dispute with Japan, Seoul said it will pay the victims through a local foundation.

Yoon then travelled to Tokyo for talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, becoming the first South Korean president to make a bilateral visit to Japan in 12 years.

The strategic dialogue, established in 2005, had not taken place since the last meeting in October 2014.

- South Korea wants to build relations with China

Meanwhile, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin said his country wants to build a "healthy and mature" relationship with China.

"We're carrying out confident and resolute diplomacy with China," the agency quoted Park as saying.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo recently visited China, met President Xi Jinping and attended the opening ceremony of Asian Games.

"We are seeking to make the relationship with China new, healthy and mature again ... We plan to continue high-level exchanges and strategic communications in a stable manner," the South Korean diplomat said.