Abe and Park met one-on-one in Washington on the fringes of the Nuclear Security Summit, following their high-profile meeting in November, the first since the Japanese and South Korean leaders took office in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Abe was quoted by a Japanese official as telling Park that he is willing to follow up on the deal to help the women, euphemistically called “comfort women,” though some problems remain surrounding the matter in both countries.
Park said South Korea intends to implement the deal in a sincere manner, according to Koichi Hagiuda, Japanese deputy chief Cabinet secretary.
Hagiuda said Abe and Park agreed to increase opportunities to meet bilaterally to improve ties, which had been seriously strained due to disputes over issues such as the interpretation of wartime history and the issue of comfort women.
The two governments reached a landmark agreement in December to settle the long-standing bilateral issue of the Korean comfort women “finally and irreversibly.”