Japan foreign minister says to discuss wartime labour issue with S.Korean counterpart

Japan's foreign minister said he plans to discuss the contentious issue of wartime laborers on the Korean peninsula at a meeting with his South Korean counterpart on Saturday, a day after Seoul pulled back from the brink an intelligence-sharing deal with Tokyo.

The comments from Toshimitsu Motegi, at a news conference during a G20 foreign ministers' meeting in the central Japanese city of Nagoya, are the latest sign the two Asian nations may be moving to improve ties.

A long-burning historical dispute - particularly about the issue of forced labor on the Korean peninsula during World War Two - has damaged relations between the two U.S. allies.