Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se began his two-day visit to Japan on Sunday where he will meet with his Japanese counterpart on mending ties that have been frayed over shared history.
The visit, Yun's first to Japan since taking office in 2013, comes as the Northeast Asian neighbors mark next week the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties.
Yun was to hold talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida shortly after arriving there, according to a press release from the South Korean foreign ministry.
Yun and Kishida are certain to discuss Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean women for its troops during World War II.
Last week, President Park Geun-hye told the Washington Post that Seoul and Tokyo have made "considerable progress" in negotiations over Tokyo's formal apology and reparations.
She added the two sides are in the final stage of talks but did not give details.
Also at issue is Japan's push to have a package of Meiji Era industrial facilities be given UNESCO world heritage status.
Many Koreans were conscripted to work as slave laborers at some of the locations during Japan's brutal colonization of the peninsula from 1910-45.
South Korea has urged Japan to clarify the tragic historical background in UNESCO documents.
It remains unclear whether Yun's trip will produce a breakthrough.
No specific deal is expected from his visit, an informed diplomatic source said.
On Monday, Yun is scheduled to pay a courtesy visit to the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and will possibly deliver a message from President Park.
The foreign minister is also set to attend an anniversary event at the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo on the same day.
Yun's Japanese counterpart Kishida and Shotaro Yachi, secretary general of Japan's National Security Secretariat, are also likely to attend the ceremony, said the source.
Another government source says Abe may take part in the event.
"I understand Prime Minister Abe is positively considering ways to attend the reception hosted by the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo to mark the 50th anniversary," the source told Yonhap News Agency by phone on Sunday, adding that the final decision will be made on Monday.
President Park may also attend a ceremony to be held at the Japanese Embassy on the same day in Seoul to mark the anniversary, if Abe attends the one in Tokyo, the source said.
Abe was expected to send a political heavyweight, Fukushiro Nukaga, as his special envoy to the Seoul ceremony while Trade Minister Yoon Sang-jick will represent South Korea in the Tokyo event. The two leaders planned to exchange congratulatory messages to be read out by their envoys during the ceremonies.
Yun initially planned to visit Japan in 2013 but canceled it in protest of visits by senior Japanese officials to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo, including Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso.
South Korea views the Yasukuni Shrine as a symbol of Japan's imperialistic past as 14 Class-A war criminals are enshrined there among war dead.
It would be the first time for a South Korean foreign minister to travel to Japan since May 2011 when a trilateral meeting also involving China's foreign minister took place there. (Yonhap)
