TOKYO, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks with South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon in Tokyo on Thursday, amid strained ties between both countries who have been at odds over wartime issues that have spilled over into a tit-for-tat trade row.

After the meeting, Lee told reporters that he had handed his Japanese counterpart a letter from South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

The contents of the letter were not disclosed.

Japan and South Korea have seen bilateral ties sink to their lowest level in recent years following South Korea's top court last year ordering Japanese firms to pay compensation to forced laborers during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Since then both sides have tightened export controls on certain materials and products and a key military pact between the two neighbors has also been severed owing to the rift.

The visit and talks held between the two counterparts Thursday, however, has raised the prospect of the bitter dispute potentially showing embryonic signs of easing, sources close to the matter said.

They were referring to remarks made by Lee to Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of Komeito, Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party's coalition ally on Wednesday.

Lee reportedly told Yamaguchi that he hoped the talks with Abe would help create an environment in which the two sides could begin to work towards establishing "future-oriented" ties.