Japanese media report that Seoul and Tokyo remain at wide odds over issues related to Japan's wartime history following a meeting of their foreign ministers.
 
Japan's Asahi Shimbun said following the meeting in Brunei on Monday the two sides failed to reach any agreements on historical issues and the possibility of holding a South Korea-Japan summit. 
 
The daily said although the two ministers agreed to hold Monday's meeting as a starting point to improve thorny bilateral ties, they could not iron out differences. 
 
The Mainichi Shimbun said active efforts to improve South Korea-Japan ties, including holding a bilateral summit, are likely to run into difficulties as the Japanese government believes there is no need to overstrain itself to rush to build better ties with Seoul.
 
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun also reported that though Monday’s meeting marked a step forward toward a South Korea-Japan summit, the two countries failed to agree on historical issues.
 
In a bid to provide a breakthrough to thaw relations, Seoul's Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Monday evaded discussing such thorny issues as Japan's wartime sex slavery and its repeated attempts to claim sovereignty of the Dokdo islets.

Meanwhile, regarding the possibility for the South Korea-Japan summit, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in a news conference Tuesday that the foreign ministers talks were held to improve bilateral relations and such talks must continue.

Suga's comments are taken by political analysts as a sign that the Japanese government plans to look for opportunities to gradually mend the relations through high-level talks, instead of pushing for a summit too soon.