S. Korea, Japan agree to realize 'full potential' in economic cooperation

South Korea and Japan agreed Thursday to work together to "fully realize" the potential in economic cooperation as they resumed high-level economic talks in nearly eight years amid a thaw in bilateral ties.

The two countries reached the agreement during the economic dialogue, led by Kang Jae-kwon, South Korea's deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, and Keiichi Ono, Japanese senior deputy foreign minister, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

The two sides "agreed to strengthen communications and cooperation at bilateral and minilateral levels to secure new markets, stabilize and diversify supply chains, and discussed ways to enhance cooperation in core and emerging technologies," the ministry said in a release.

Noting the resumption of the dialogue, the two sides agreed to "make efforts to cooperate in various fields to fully realize the potential of the bilateral cooperation," the ministry said.

They also agreed to work closely on multilateral stages, such as the World Trade Organization, the Group of 20 gathering and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, to promote the rules-based economic order and expand the scope of cooperation in areas like climate change and energy.

The economic dialogue was launched in 1999 as a channel to discuss comprehensive economic cooperation, but it had remained suspended since early 2016 over the erection in South Korea of a girl's statue symbolizing Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery.

South Korea and Japan agreed to resume the dialogue in July this year amid a significant warming of the bilateral ties. In March, South Korea said it will compensate Korean victims of Japan's forced labor on its own without Japan's contribution.

Seoul's proposal for the resolution led to the resumption of reciprocal visits by the countries' leaders and the agreement to revive key high-level exchanges, including diplomatic dialogue channels. (Yonhap)