TOKYO, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Foreign Minister Taro Kono will hold meetings with his South Korean and Russian counterparts on the sidelines of a security forum in Germany this week.
Kono is scheduled to have talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Friday amid worsening bilateral relations. A meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will likely take place on Saturday in Munich.
The latest tensions stem from remarks made by South Korean National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang insisting that Japan's Emperor Akihito apologize for the "comfort women," or wartime sex slaves issue.
At the scheduled meeting, Kono is expected to express Tokyo's protest again over the remarks by the speaker, who also said that Emperor Akihito is "the son of the main culprit of war crimes," and to demand the speaker retract the remarks and apologize.
The meeting between Kono and Lavrov was also arranged during their stay in Germany, according to Japanese government officials.
The two ministers are likely to try to propel talks toward concluding a postwar peace treaty in their imminent meeting.
However, huge differences between Tokyo and Moscow over the disputed islands off Hokkaido, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, have clouded the outlook for an immediate breakthrough.
