President Moon Jae-in has reportedly expressed regrets over his scrapped Tokyo trip and summit with the Japanese leader, but ordered the government to continue working-level consultations with Tokyo. 

Appearing on KBS and TBS radio programs on Tuesday, Senior Presidential Secretary for Public Communication Park Soo-hyun explained Moon's responses and remarks on the cancelled trip. 

Park said that Seoul and Tokyo recently discussed bilateral pending issues such as disputes over history matters, Japan's export curbs against South Korea and Tokyo's planned discharge of treated radioactive water from its Fukushima nuclear power plant. 

Park said that there has been significant progress in the negotiations, but it was not enough to report to the South Korean people. 

The secretary said that the two sides agreed to discuss those issues further, adding that President Moon also instructed continued working-level consultations.

Park continued that President Moon feels sorry about the scrapped trip and hopes he will meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga someday.  

The top office announced on Monday that President Moon decided not to visit Tokyo for the Olympics, effectively scrapping plans for his first summit with  Suga.