Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Saturday he was hopeful for future ties with South Korea, whose conservative government has sought to resolve a longtime dispute over wartime forced labor.

Kishida said that he and President Yoon Suk-yeol have committed “to resolve pending issues very promptly.”

“We want to restore bilateral relations to a healthy state and develop them further,” Kishida told a news conference on a visit to Washington.

He declined to speak directly on South Korea’s new proposal, saying he will “refrain from speaking on domestic developments.”

Yoon since narrowly winning elections last year has sought to improve relations with Japan so the fellow US allies can work together on shared concerns such as North Korea.

Memories of Japan’s brutal 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula have long cast a cloud on the relationship. Japan forced some 780,000 Koreans into labor, according to Seoul’s figures, not including women forced into sexual servitude.

Survivors have long pushed for direct compensation and an apology. Under Seoul’s new proposal, third parties — likely Korean companies that benefitted from Japanese reparations — would offer payments.

Survivor groups have long demanded direct payments and an apology from Japan, which insists that the matter is closed under a 1965 treaty that restored relations.

As part of the treaty, Japan provided $800 million in grants and cheap leans to South Korea as reparations.

AFP