Japan confirms meeting of PM Abe with South Korea president

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a news conference at his official residence in Tokyo March 20, 2014, after Japan's parliament enacted a budget for fiscal 2014. REUTERS/Yuya Shino

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and South Korea said on Friday that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet South Korean President Park Geun-hye for the first time in a trilateral meeting with the United States next week.

The meeting, on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in The Hague, comes amid chilled ties between the Asian neighbours over anger in South Korea that Japanese leaders have not atoned for Japan's wartime aggression, including the use of Korean sex slaves, as well as friction over the ownership of contested islands.