South Korea, Japan resume working level talks

South Korea and Japan have resumed working-level talks after dialogue stopped last year following Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.South Korean Ambassador to Japan Lee Byung-kee met with Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki at Japan’s Foreign Ministry on Monday for about 30 minutes. In the meeting requested by Ambassador Lee, the two sides discussed normalizing South Korea-Japan relations and “Takeshima Day.” Japan’s Shimane Prefecture designated the day in 2005 to promote Tokyo’s claims over Korea’s easternmost Dokdo islets.On Tuesday, the head of Seoul’s Foreign Ministry’s Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau will meet in Seoul with the head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau.The resumption of bilateral talks follows US Secretary of State John Kerry’s suggestion that the two nations improve ties ahead of President Obama’s visit to Korea and Japan in April.Kerry visited South Korea and China last week.