Foreign minister Park Jin has said that a resolution to the contentious issue of compensating victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor requires Tokyo to have a historically accurate perspective and a sincere respect for the views of the victims.

Park made the remark on Wednesday during the foreign ministry’s briefing to the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee after main opposition Democratic Party Rep. Kim Sang-hee said Japan has refused to admit that it forced Koreans into labor during the war and has never apologized for it.

Park said Seoul is continuously calling on Tokyo to provide a sincere apology over the matter.

The minister said the government is seeking a sincere response from Japan on its proposal to compensate victims and is intent on heeding the views of victims, expressing belief that such efforts will yield a reasonable solution based on common interests.

Attention is being drawn to whether Park will hold talks with his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference running from Friday to Sunday, with Japanese media saying that the two officials are expected to meet on Saturday. 

In the event that such a meeting is held, the two sides are likely to talk extensively about the compensation issue.