South Korea and Japan will hold vice-ministerial talks in Seoul later this week, the foreign ministry said Wednesday, the first such meeting in about nine years.

The "strategic dialogue" will take place Thursday between First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin and his Japanese counterpart, Masataka Okano, the ministry said.

The last such meeting took place in 2014.

This week's meeting comes as a follow-up to the March summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and the two sides plan to discuss in depth a broad range of topics, including bilateral relations and regional and international issues, the ministry said.

Bilateral relations between Seoul and Tokyo have warmed significantly following South Korea's decision in March to compensate Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor on its own without asking for contributions from Japanese firms.

The thaw in relations was little affected by Japan's release of treated radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, as Seoul has maintained the discharge will have little effect on the environment as long as it is done in a scientifically safe way.

Source: Yonhap News Agency