TOKYO: The Japanese and South Korean governments are arranging a meeting between their foreign ministers on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe Meeting gathering to be held in Madrid for two days from Sunday, Japanese government sources said Saturday.

Japan's Toshimitsu Motegi and South Korea's Kang Kyung-wha are expected to lay the groundwork for an anticipated summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in China on Dec. 24.

The Madrid meeting, if realized, would be the third between Motegi, who took office in September, and Kang. They met in New York in late September and in the central Japan city of Nagoya in late November.

The Nagoya meeting followed Seoul's suspension of its August decision to scrap its military information-sharing pact with Tokyo.

At the possible Madrid meeting, Motegi is expected to reiterate Tokyo's demand that South Korea correct its alleged violation of international law over the bilateral issue of wartime labor.

JIJI Press