Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se says that holding a bilateral summit or high-level meetings between South Korea and Japan would be difficult unless Japan halts its regressive words and actions to distort history.

Yun on Monday told a news briefing that high-ranking Japanese officials’ recent comments on Japan's wartime history are putting a damper on Seoul’s will to improve relations with Tokyo.

The minister called Japan’s Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto’s controversial remarks on comfort women “embarrassing and shameful remarks that go against common sense.” He added that Hashimoto’s comments cause damage to conscientious people in Japan and deepen Japan's isolation in the world.