Japan's new Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said he hopes to restore relations with South Korea and to accelerate diplomatic dialogue to enhance cooperation.

At his inaugural press conference on Thursday, Hayashi said he believes that the two nations should no longer neglect the frayed state of bilateral ties as South Korea is an important neighboring country to Japan.

The new minister, however, reiterated Tokyo's position that all reparation issues regarding wartime forced labor and the military's sexual enslavement were settled in the 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral ties.

He said Seoul will have to come up with a resolution to related legal proceedings that are acceptable to Tokyo.

Hayashi emphasized that fulfilling an agreement between countries is fundamental in state-to-state relations, before urging Seoul to respond appropriately.