The foreign ministries of South Korea and Japan held director-level talks in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss pending bilateral issues.

According to Seoul’s foreign ministry, Seo Min-jung, director general for Asia and Pacific affairs, sat down for talks with Hiroyuki Namazu, head of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.

The talks were the first between the two since Namazu, who doubles as Tokyo’s top nuclear envoy, took office in August.

The ministry said that the two sides reviewed bilateral relations and exchanged views on issues of mutual concern.

While the details of the meeting were not released, the talks are thought to have also covered historical issues such as the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery and compensation for forced labor victims.

The ministry said that the two sides agreed to continue communication between diplomatic authorities of the two nations for the future-oriented development of Seoul-Tokyo relations in various areas.