President Yoon Suk Yeol hosted a luncheon meeting on Friday with a group of Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima to celebrate the Korean thanksgiving of Chuseok.

The event was held at Cheong Wa Dae's Yeongbin-gwan guesthouse, with 42 victims and family members from Japan and 43 others from South Korea, coming about four months after Yoon met with Korean survivors of the bombing during his visit to Hiroshima in May for a Group of Seven summit.

Yoon said in his welcome speech that the government will never again turn a blind eye to the victims' pain and vowed his utmost efforts to advance the South Korea-Japan relationship to a future-oriented one and take care of South Koreans residing in Japan.

Around 50,000 Koreans fell victim to the atomic bombing, after many were brought to Japan to work as forced laborers during its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.