Moon, Abe hold ‘friendly’ talks on Asean sidelines

BANGKOK: South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday held their first talks for more than a year on the sidelines of a regional summit in Thailand, Moon’s office said, with the neighbors’ relationship in dire straits.

Ties between Seoul and Tokyo — both of them US allies facing the twin challenges of nuclear-armed North Korea and an increasingly assertive China — are at rock-bottom over a dispute related to Japan’s use of forced labor during World War II, with the countries trading retaliatory sanctions.