President Moon Jae-in on Thursday emphasized the importance of relations between South Korea and Japan and vowed to develop friendly and cooperative bilateral relations. 

The president made the pledge during a meeting with members of Osaka's Korean community hours after his arrival in the city to attend the G20 summit.

Moon said that despite some difficulties stemming from their shared history, both countries should collectively apply their wisdom to resolve pending issues.

He added Seoul and Tokyo are close neighbors and long-time friends that have exchanged and shared culture and history for 15-hundred years, and vowed to establish friendly and cooperative bilateral relations free of impediments.

Moon added that South Korea will do all it can to support the success of next year's Summer Olympics in Tokyo.