Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki arrived in Seoul on Thursday for a two-day visit to hold talks with his South Korean counterpart, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.

The top bureaucrat at the ministry met Seoul’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun to discuss issues of mutual interest.

“Saiki came here to exchange greetings with Kim upon his taking the position late last month,” a Seoul ministry official said.

Their meeting came amid soured Seoul-Tokyo relations after Japanese politicians made attempts to glorify its militaristic past and gloss over its wartime atrocities.

Earlier this month, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se urged Tokyo to stop glorifying its militaristic past and to work toward stable relations during the first meeting with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida. (Yonhap News)