Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono has welcomed the news that over ten million South Korean and Japanese citizens traveled between the two countries in 2018.

Japan's Kyodo news agency cited the minister as telling a news conference on Friday that he's very pleased to see South Korean and Japanese people visiting each other's country despite strained bilateral relations.

He hoped the trend would continue in the future.

According to the Japanese embassy in Seoul and other sources, 72 percent of the over ten million mutual visitors last year were South Koreans visiting Japan, pointing to a serious imbalance.