Japan will demand Seoul agree to the creation of an arbitration committee to discuss the South Korean top court's rulings over Japan’s wartime forced labor. 

Tokyo’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga relayed the stance on Tuesday at a regular media briefing, saying the South Korean government has yet to respond to its call. 

He claimed South Korea is obliged to accept arbitration under the two countries’ 1965 normalization treaty. However, he declined to comment on a question on whether Japan will take the case to the International Court of Justice if Seoul keeps refusing, calling it a “hypothetical" question. 

He also labeled it “hypothetical” when asked whether it would be difficult to hold a South Korea-Japan summit on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka later this month and did not answer. 

Last year, South Korea's Supreme Court ordered certain Japanese companies to compensate Korean victims of wartime forced labor.