Tokyo is reportedly using a possible bilateral summit with Seoul as leverage in their disputes over Japan's wartime forced labor issue. 

The Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun reported Tuesday that is why the Japanese government demanded South Korea agree to create an arbitration committee to address the issue with slightly over a month to go before the G20 Summit in Japan.  

The paper explained that the South Korean government is exploring ways to improve its relations with Japan and is pushing to arrange a bilateral summit on the sidelines of the forthcoming multilateral summit in Osaka. 

Japan’s Sankei Shimbun also said Tokyo has sent out a signal that accepting its call regarding the arbitration committee is a minimum prerequisite for a bilateral summit, adding it will decide on whether or not to hold the summit based on Seoul’s response. 

On Monday, Japan's Foreign Ministry requested the launch of an arbitration committee to discuss the South Korean top court's rulings last year, which ordered Japanese companies to compensate Korean victims of forced wartime labor.