Moon Proposes 4-Way Summit with N.Korea to Japan

National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won on Tuesday met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to discuss the fractious relationship between the two neighbors and other regional issues.

They met at Suga's official residence in Tokyo, where Park laid out President Moon Jae-in's proposal of a four-way summit between the two Koreas, Japan, and the U.S. during the Tokyo Summer Olympics next July to find solutions to the North Korean nuclear issue and its abductions of Japanese citizens.

"I relayed President Moon's commitment to improving Seoul-Tokyo ties," Park told reporters after the meeting.

According to a ruling-party source here, Park urged Japan to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the Olympics so the leaders of the four countries can meet. He "proposed to make the Tokyo Olympics the momentum for improving inter-Korean and Seoul-Tokyo relations," the source said.

Suga and Park also discussed the question of compensating South Koreans who were forced to labor for Japanese companies in World War II, the biggest current sticking point between the neighbors, but neither commented afterwards.