Senior foreign ministry officials of South Korea and Japan will hold a meeting on Monday to discuss the compensation issue for victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor. 

According to Seoul’s foreign ministry, Seo Min-jung, the director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at South Korea's Foreign Ministry, will sit down with her Japanese counterpart, Takehiro Funakoshi, in Seoul for discussions on the matter and other pending issues between the two countries. 

It will be the third director general-level meeting in some 40 days.

During a public hearing earlier this month, Seoul’s foreign ministry proposed using a Korean public foundation to pay the compensation for Korean victims, who had won related lawsuits against two Japanese firms – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nippon Steel.

The proposal, however, drew criticism from the victims, as it did not include an apology by the Japanese firms or require their participation in the compensation.

Foreign minister Park Jin said last week that it would be desirable for Japanese companies to voluntarily participate in compensating the victims.