South Korea vowed Wednesday to step up its diplomatic efforts to improve ties with Japan amid various disputes over their shared history.

In a report to the National Assembly's foreign affairs and unification committee, the Foreign Ministry said it will work to sustain the positive momentum in bilateral relations created by Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se's visit to Japan last month.

"The visit will serve to deliver our will to improve relations to the Japanese government and people, as well as an opportunity to induce change in Japan's stance," the report said.

Yun's visit to Tokyo on June 21-22 was the first by a South Korean foreign minister in more than four years. During his stay, he held talks with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, and attended a reception marking the 50th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral ties.

"We will redouble our diplomatic efforts so that pending issues of interest to us, such as the 'comfort women' issue and Prime Minister Abe's statement, are handled in a positive direction," the report said.

The ministry was referring to South Korea's demand that Japan acknowledge responsibility for its sexual enslavement of Korean women for its troops during World War II. Tokyo's stance on the issue will be gauged through Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's statement in August marking the anniversary of the end of the war.

South Korea and Japan have also been in talks to resolve a dispute over Tokyo's bid to list historical industrial facilities linked to wartime Korean slave labor as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The World Heritage Committee is expected to make a final decision on the bid this weekend during an ongoing meeting in Bonn, Germany.

"Letters from the president and the foreign minister were sent to the member nations of the World Heritage Committee on June 17 and June 10, respectively," the report said. "We expect to gain a result that faithfully reflects our concern regarding the forced labor."

Details of the negotiations have not been disclosed, but reports have said Japan may attach an annotation on the Korean slave labor to UNESCO documents, listing the facilities as World Heritage sites. (Yonhap)