Japan's Kishida to make 2-day visit to Korea from Sunday: Kyodo

President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the end of their joint news conference after their summit in Tokyo on March 16. [YONHAP]

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he will make a two-day visit to Korea next week, Japan's Kyodo News reported Tuesday, in the latest sign of a slow thaw in bilateral ties.

The Japanese leader will arrive in Korea on Sunday. President Yoon Suk Yeol held a summit with Kishida in Tokyo in March in the wake of his government's decision to compensate Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor without contributions from Japanese firms.

Yoon was the first Korean president in 12 years to make a bilateral visit to Japan, as the two countries' relations had been strained over a series of historical disputes stemming from Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

The two leaders agreed during their summit to resume shuttle diplomacy, or regular visits to each other's country.

The last visit by a Japanese prime minister to Korea was made by Shinzo Abe in February 2018.

Yonhap