ⓒYONHAP News

In a speech marking the 102nd anniversary of the March First Independence Movement on Monday, President Moon tells Japan his government is ready to sit down face-to-face and talk at any time. 

Seoul-Tokyo relations have been at historic lows amid tensions over compensation of Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor and sexual slavery and Tokyo's retaliatory export curbs against Seoul.

Report: President Moon Jae-in is seeking a way to end years of strained relations with Japan.

[President Moon Jae-in (Korean-English translation)] 

"The Korean Government is always ready to sit down and have talks with the Japanese Government... "

The president on Monday addressed the thorny Seoul-Tokyo relations in his speech marking the March First Independence Movement against Japan's colonial occupation of Korea.

[President Moon Jae-in (Korean-English translation)] 

"The Tokyo Summer Olympic Games scheduled for this year may serve as an opportunity for dialogue between Korea and Japan, South and North Korea, North Korea and Japan, and North Korea and the United States. Seoul will work together with Tokyo for the success of the Olympics. Furthermore, I hope that both Korea and Japan will be able to revive our economies, which were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and jointly create a new order in the post-COVID-19 era through an even more robust cooperation."

Seoul-Tokyo relations have been stuck in the worst downturn in decades since the South Korean Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that Japanese companies must pay reparations to Korean victims forced to labor during World War II.

Amid the years of tit-for-tat battle that followed over trade and security cooperation, a Seoul court earlier this year ordered Japan to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery.

Moon proposed the two sides approach colonial-era grievances and the future separately.

[President Moon Jae-in (Korean-English translation)]

"Korea is striving to learn a lesson by never forgetting the shameful history of being colonized and the painful history of a fratricidal war. However, we must not let the past hold us back. We have to concentrate more energy on future-oriented development while separately resolving issues of the past."

Moon pressed Japan to get past the stalemate but his speech fell short of offering a specific way out for Tokyo, which has consistently claimed that the issues of wartime compensation was settled once and for all in a 1965 bilateral accord.

During his speech, President Moon also called on Pyongyang to participate in a quarantine and health care partnership with the South, the U.S. and China.

He said the joint public health project would serve as a force to open the door of co-prosperity and peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi reiterated Tokyo’s stance that the ball is in South Korea's court in settling historical issues in a media briefing on Tuesday, when asked for a comment on Moon’s March First Independence Movement Day speech. 

The Japanese official said that it is difficult to assess South Korea’s stance just based on Moon’s speech.

However, he argued that, although the two countries are very important to each another, South Korea breached international promises on the issue of Japan’s wartime forced labor and sexual slavery, causing what he called an “unprecedentedly grave situation” regarding bilateral ties.

In order for the two countries to resolve pending issues, Motegi said South Korea should take responsibility and respond accordingly.