South Korea and the U.S. are known to be working for an early launch of a joint working group to discuss North Korea’s denuclearization and inter-Korean ties.
An official of Seoul's Foreign Ministry told reporters on Thursday that specifics of the agreed plan to create the new consultation body are currently under an internal review. The speculation is that the working group to be co-led by South Korean and American envoys on the North, Lee Do-hoon and Stephen Biegun, will be launched within this month.
Meanwhile, Seoul says it is urging Tokyo to refrain from making hard-line remarks over the South Korean top court’s ruling that a Japanese corporation must compensate Korean victims of forced labor during Japan's colonial rule.
The Foreign Ministry’s deputy spokesman Kim Deuk-hwan told a regular media briefing that the South Korean government is emphasizing that Japan’s excessive response to the Supreme Court’s decision will negatively affect bilateral relations.