1. New Director-General for Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kim Jung han, together with Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Kenji Kanasugi, held a Republic of Korea-Japan director-general-level meeting in Tokyo on June 5.

2. The director-general-level meeting came as part of the communications that have continued at various levels between the diplomatic authorities of the two countries. The Directors-General of the two countries exchanged views on issues of mutual interest, including the ROK Supreme Court’s ruling on victims of forced labor during the Japanese occupation of Korea.

o In addition, Director-General Kim stressed that the measures to strengthen inspections of fishery imports announced by the Japanese government on May 30 should not be implemented in a disguised discriminatory manner against Korean fishery products.

3. The two Directors-General agreed to continue to work together to improve the ROK-Japan relations on the basis of close communications between the diplomatic authorities despite many difficult issues between the two countries.

* unofficial translation