Reports that South Korean President Yoon Suk Jeol would watch a match at the World Baseball Classic with Fumio Kishida have been denied ©Getty Images

Reports that President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will watch a match at the World Baseball Classic between their respective countries have been denied by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry.

Reports in the South Korean media suggested that Yeol and Kishida would watch the match, due to be played at the Tokyo Dome on the opening day of the tournament on Friday March 10, together in a bid to improve bilateral relations between the two nations.

However responding to those reports the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement: "The report on watching a baseball game together is incorrect, and the timing for the announcement of a resolution {on wartime forced labour} has not been decided for now."

Tensions between Japan and South Korea date back more than 100 years to when Japan occupied the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945.

During the Second World War Japan forced around 750,000 Korean men to serve as labourers and 200,000 women to serve as sex slaves, with many killed or wounded as a result.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will not watch a World Baseball Classic match with his South Korean counterpart according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry ©Getty Images
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will not watch a World Baseball Classic match with his South Korean counterpart according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry ©Getty Images

Bilateral ties have been patchy between the two nations in recent years due to the emergence of unresolved disputes related to the incidents of wartime forced labour.     

A Japanese Government source told Kyodo News the idea of Yeol and Kishida watching the match together would be feasible "if the wartime labour issue were solved."

The World Baseball Classic is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, with the United States the defending champions.

Japan has won the event twice in 2006 and 2009, while South Korea’s best performance came when they finished as runners-up to Japan in 2009, with Japan winning the final 5-3.

This year’s edition of the World Baseball Classic is due to take place from March 8 to 21, and will be co-hosted by Japan, Taiwan and the United States.