President Yoon Suk Yeol has hinted that South Korea will not exercise its right to indemnity on the issue of Japan's wartime forced labor.

The president issued the position on Thursday in a question-and-answer segment of a joint press conference following his summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo.

Yoon said that if the right to indemnity is exercised, all problems will return to square one.

He said that the 2018 ruling by the South Korean top court ordering defendant Japanese firms to compensate the victims conflicted with the 1965 agreement that normalized diplomatic ties between the two nations.

Yoon stressed that his government recently announced the solution to the forced labor issue to satisfy and harmonize the ruling and his government's position on the 1965 agreement.

Earlier this month, Seoul announced its decision to pay compensation to victims of Japan's wartime forced labor through a South Korea-backed public foundation, without set contributions from Japanese companies.