Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, center, arrives with his delegation at the Museum of Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Saturday Dec. 11, 2021. (Olivier Douliery/Pool via AP)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Saturday called for an "appropriate response" from Seoul to resolve bilateral disputes over wartime compensation in his first contact with his South Korean counterpart.

       Hayashi, who took office last month, and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui Yong agreed to promote dialogue to restore a "healthy relationship," the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

       The two held a brief conversation on the sidelines of a Group of Seven foreign ministerial meeting in Liverpool, England. They also confirmed cooperation along with mutual ally the United States to deal with North Korea, which has resumed ballistic missile tests.

       Tokyo-Seoul relations deteriorated sharply in late 2018 after South Korea's top court ordered a Japanese company to pay damages for forced labor during Japan's colonial rule.

       Japan maintains the issue of compensation was settled "completely and finally" by a 1965 bilateral agreement that provided South Korea with financial assistance, and has called on the administration of President Moon Jae In to resolve the issue.

       The countries are also at odds over the issue of "comfort women," a euphemism for women from the peninsula and elsewhere who were forced to work in Japan's wartime military brothels.

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