S. Korean foreign minister to visit Japan

President Park has refused, since her inauguration, to sit down face-to-face with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe citing his wrong perception of history.

South Korea has adopted the so-called "two-track" diplomacy with Japan, which means South Korea would seek to cooperate with Japan on economy and security, separately from historical issues such as the comfort women and territorial disputes on the easternmost islets of Dokdo, called Takeshima in Japan.

President Park said in an interview with Washington Post last week that there has been "considerable progress" on the comfort women issue and that South Korea and Japan were "in the final stage" of their negotiations.

Director-general diplomats from the two countries held the eighth round of talks about the comfort women issue in Tokyo on June 11.

According to historians, at least 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were forced to serve the militaristic Japan as sex slaves during World War II.

Two former South Korean comfort women, aged 91 and 81 each, passed away on June 11. Among 238 identifying themselves as former sex slaves in South Korea, only 50 are still alive.