Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that the Republic of Korea (ROK) was his country's "most important neighbor" and that the two shared basic values as he took a conciliatory tone toward Seoul which has been locked in a bitter row with Tokyo for over a year. 

The comment came after ROK President Moon Jae-in last week proposed that the two countries work together to resolve the issue of wartime forced labor. He also called Japan "our closest neighbor." 

The remarks follow some fence-mending steps in recent months, including Seoul's reversal of its decision to scrap an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, and Tokyo's partial easing of curbs on the export of high-tech materials to the ROK. 

"Under an increasingly severe security environment in Northeast Asia, diplomacy with neighboring countries is extremely important," Abe told parliament in a policy speech. 

"Essentially, South Korea (the ROK) is the most important neighbor with which Japan shares basic values and strategic interests," he said. 

In a parliamentary speech in October, Abe simply referred to the ROK as an "important neighbor."

Since then, Abe and Moon met in China in December and stressed the need to improve ties, officials from both sides said. 

Read more: 

South Korea, Japan seek olive branch in China at Christmas

Moon, Abe confirm differences, agree to resolve wartime labor issue via dialogue

Also, Moon told a news conference last week the ROK will actively cooperate for the success of this year's Olympic Games in Tokyo and that he hoped the sporting event provides a good opportunity to fundamentally improve ties. 

Relations between Japan and the ROK, two of the United States' major Asian allies, plunged to their lowest in decades after the ROK's top court ordered Japanese firms in 2018 to compensate some wartime laborers who worked under duress. 

Japan says the matter was settled by a 1965 treaty that normalized bilateral relations following Japan's 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula. 

"I sincerely hope the ROK honors the commitments between the two counties and works towards building future-oriented relations," Abe said in his Monday speech, reiterating that the onus is on Seoul to put ties back on an even keel.

Abe and Moon met for about 45 minutes on the sidelines of the China-Japan-ROK leaders' meeting on December 24 in Chengdu in southwest China. They confirmed their differences on the wartime labor issue but agreed to resolve the dispute via dialogue. 

Moon expressed hopes for an early resolution of their differences. "Japan and South Korea (the ROK) are historically and culturally the closest neighbors," he said. "We're not in a relationship that can set the two apart even when there's some discomfort for a while."  

Abe said at a press conference that he has relayed Japan's position on the wartime labor issue to Moon, adding it is ROK's responsibility to come up with measures that would resolve the disputes.

The mood of the discussion was tense at times but not confrontational, according to Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Naoki Okada. 

The two leaders also urged the resumption of talks between Pyongyang and Washington that have been largely deadlocked since a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi in February 2019. 

(With input from Reuters)