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First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun-dong shakes hands with his Japanese counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori following talks on Feb. 13 in Washington. (Yonhap)

High-level contact between the South Korean and Japanese foreign ministries continues as the two countries seek to resolve the issue of compensating victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonial period. Following a meeting between their vice foreign ministers in Washington, D.C., their foreign ministers are expected to hold a meeting of their own in Munich.

“Foreign Minister Park Jin is planning to attend the Munich Security Conference this week [on Feb. 17-19]. If Japan’s foreign minister attends as well, we expect there would naturally be a meeting between the two officials,” said Lim Soo-suk, spokesperson for the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the daily briefing on Tuesday.

The South Korean government had announced the schedule of Park’s visit to Munich on Feb. 9, and the Japanese officially announced that Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will attend the Munich Security Conference on Tuesday.

“We’re currently arranging the meeting schedule. We’ll make an announcement as soon as it’s confirmed,” said an official from Korea’s Foreign Ministry.

Park and Hayashi are reportedly likely to hold their meeting on Saturday.

The meeting’s agenda is likely to focus on the main bone of contention in resolving the issue of compensation for forced labor — namely, the question of whether Japan will offer an apology and whether the offending companies will take part in compensating the victims.

Considering that the Korean and Japanese vice foreign ministers failed to settle the issue in their meeting in Washington on Monday — which lasted for two and a half hours, longer than originally planned — it remains to be seen whether the two countries’ top diplomats can come to an understanding.

In a related development, the Korean Foreign Ministry basically rejected a proposal for two televised debates that the Citizens Association on Imperial Japan's Labor Mobilization made during a press conference the previous day.

“The opinions of various groups, including the victims, were adequately discussed during the debate [held at the National Assembly on Jan. 12]. Going forward, we intend to personally present the results of our deliberations thus far to the victims and to listen to their opinion,” said an official with the Foreign Ministry.

By Jung In-hwan, staff reporter

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