South Korea and Japan held face-to-face talks on Monday for the first time since Korea's Supreme Court ruling in October ordering a Japanese firm to compensate Korean victims of wartime forced labor.

Kim Yong-kil, director-general for Northeast Asian affairs at Seoul's Foreign Ministry, met his Japanese counterpart Kenji Kanasugi in Seoul and discussed the recent court rulings and other key bilateral issues.

Seoul briefed Tokyo on its response measures to the rulings, and likely called for a prudent response from Japan and wisdom in addressing historical issues in an effort to develop future-oriented relations. 

Japan is known to have reaffirmed its stance that Korea's Supreme Court ruling violates the 1965 bilateral treaty which settled colonial issues, and that Japanese firms must not suffer related damages.

Earlier in the day, Kanasugi who also serves as Tokyo's top nuclear envoy met with his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon and discussed the North Korea nuclear issue.