South Korea's parliamentary speaker Chung Ui-hwa called Tuesday for continuous dialogue between the legislative leaders of South Korea and Japan, stressing the need to expand bilateral exchanges in various areas, including culture, to forge a future-oriented relationship.

During a meeting between the parliamentary leaders of the two neighbors, Chung also proposed strengthening exchanges among the two nations' parliamentary organs such as their secretariats, budgetary policy offices and libraries.

"I call for bolstering exchanges in terms of sharing policy experiences and knowledge," he said during his keynote speech at the first "Future Dialogue between the Parliaments of South Korea and Japan."

"We need to expand the scope of our parliamentary diplomacy by forging a framework of regular exchanges that is led by the two nations' parliamentary chiefs."

Pointing out that bilateral cooperation has thus far been focused mostly on political, security and economic issues, Chung said that the two countries should actively expand the scope of their cooperation to include areas such as the environment, information-sharing and disaster relief.

Tuesday's parliamentary dialogue was arranged after Chung proposed exchanges between the two nations' parliamentary leaders on a regular basis during his visit to Japan in October 2014.

He arrived in Japan on Saturday for a four-day visit that aims to encourage exchanges among the two nations' parliamentarians and enhance bilateral relations that have long been strained due to long-simmering historical and territorial feuds. (Yonhap)