Tokyo: Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi would meet with his South Korean counterpart, Park Jin, on Saturday over the wartime labor issue, government officials said Monday.

At the meeting, which Hayashi plans to have on the sidelines of an international security conference in Munich, Germany, he hopes to hear explanations from Park on Seoul’s plan to make a South Korean foundation pay compensation to plaintiffs in World War II forced labor lawsuits in the country instead of defendant Japanese companies.

Hayashi and Park are also likely to exchange opinions on a “positive response” the South Korean government is seeking from Tokyo and affirm their continued close communication on the issue, which senior officials of both governments have recently been stepping up efforts to resolve.

Japanese government officials also said Hayashi and other foreign ministers from the Group of Seven major democracies are expected to hold in the southern German city their first talks since Japan assumed the G-7 presidency earlier this year.

The meeting’s agenda would include the continuation and strengthening of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Hayashi wants to reaffirm unity of the seven countries–Japan, the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy–ahead of an online G-7 summit proposed to be held on Feb. 24 to mark the first anniversary of the Russian aggression in the Eastern European neighbor, people familiar with the matter said.

JIJI Press