S. Korea, Japan differ over summit plan amid history dispute

By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Seoul officials say the leaders of South Korea and Japan will meet next week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, in what would be the countries’ first summit in nearly three years amid tensions over history. But in an indication of the continuing delicate nature of bilateral ties, Japan denied that any agreement on talks had been reached. A senior Seoul security official said the countries have agreed that their leaders will meet, and are discussing the exact timing. Ties between Seoul and Tokyo are their lowest point in decades after South Korean courts ruled that two Japanese companies must compensate former Korean employees for forced labor during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.