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South Korean President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of their summit on the afternoon of Dec. 24 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for a swift rollback of the Japanese government’s export controls to their levels before July 1 in a Dec. 24 summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In his response, Abe proposed “resolving the matter through dialogue between export authorities.” While the two leaders continued to show difference on the matter of survivors of forced labor mobilization, they agreed in principle on “dialogue-based resolution.”

Moon and Abe’s summit at the Shangri-La Hotel that day in the Shijicheng (Century City) area of Chengdu lasted for 45 minutes, longer than the originally scheduled 30 minutes. It was the first official meeting between the two leaders since the Japanese government imposed export control measures in July, as well as their first time in the 15 months since a UN General Assembly meeting in September 2018.

During the summit, Moon demanded that Japan move quickly to lift its export controls. “President Moon asked Prime Minister Abe to show particular interest and resolution on the issue, insisting that the export control measures imposed by Japan need to be restored to their levels prior to July 1,” explained Blue House spokesperson Ko Min-jung.

According to Ko, Moon stressed that the two leaders should “provide encouragement so that working-level discussions between our two sides proceed in a smooth and swift manner,” to which Abe replied that he had “heard that the first export management countermeasure dialogue [among working-level officials] in three-and-a-half years was fruitful.”

“We should continue working to resolve the issue through dialogue among export authorities,” Abe was also quoted as saying. Noting that Japan’s re-examination and lifting of its export control measures was a condition for the South Korea’s decision on Nov. 22 to conditionally extend its General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan, Moon reportedly urged Abe to show resolution on the issue. But with Abe avoiding a concrete response on the matter, the two sides were unable to fully extinguish the embers of potential conflict. In their respective introductory remarks before the summit, Moon expressed his hopes of “swiftly achieving a judicious bilateral relationship,” while Abe voiced his intention of “improving Japan-South Korean relations.” Regarding the Japanese government’s decision on Nov. 20 to loosen export controls on photoresist, a key Blue House official said that Moon “viewed the voluntary measures taken by Japan as a form of progress and as showing good faith in terms of a dialogue-based resolution.”

“The conditional extension of GSOMIA cannot continue indefinitely, and the two sides recognize that the issue needs to be resolved at a suitable time,” the official said.

The two leaders were unable to bridge their differences on the matter of forced labor mobilization survivors. But Ko Min-jung reported that they had “agreed on the need for a dialogue-based resolution of the issue” and “agreed that the matter should be swiftly resolved and that there should be frequent meetings between the leaders.” They also agreed that close cooperation and communication both bilaterally and trilaterally with the US should take place on issues related to the Korean Peninsula. In a press conference after the summit, Abe explained that he had “communicated to President Moon our country’s position regarding the issue of workers from the Korean Peninsula [forced labor mobilization survivors]."

“Promises between countries must be kept,” he stressed. “South Korea should take responsibility for presenting a solution. I asked that South Korea create the conditions for restoring Japan-South Korea relations to a healthy relationship,” he added.

Abe also said he had “confirmed the information of a dialogue-based resolution with President Moon.”

By Seong Yeon-cheol, Blue House correspondent and Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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