The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan have discussed the latest flare-ups between their countries, marking the first time in more than three weeks they had conversed over the phone. 

According to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono exchanged opinions Friday afternoon on the South Korean top court’s recent rulings against Japanese companies involved in wartime forced labor. They also discussed the ongoing military radar dispute. 

On the legal cases, Kang explained the domestic realities following the Supreme Court’s verdicts as well as the South Korean government’s stance on the issue while Kono offered Tokyo’s position. 

As to the controversy surrounding Japan’s claim that a South Korean warship locked its fire control radar on a Japanese patrol aircraft in November, the two ministers reached consensus there is a need to resolve the issue through discussions between defense authorities of their two countries. 

They also agreed to continue to closely communicate with each other this year as they did last year, and work together for future-oriented development of Seoul-Tokyo relations.