U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice on Tuesday underscored the importance of strong relations between South Korea and Japan when she met with her counterpart from Tokyo, the White House said.
  

North Korea's nuclear and missile programs were also discussed during Rice's meeting with Shotaro Yachi, secretary general of Japan's National Security Secretariat, the White House said in a statement without providing details.
  

Rice also told Yachi that U.S. President Barack Obama looks forward to hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for an official visit next month, the statement said.
  

Relations between South Korea and Japan have been frayed for years due mainly to Tokyo's attempts to whitewash its wartime atrocities and colonial occupation. Their relations worsened further after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came into office as he took a series of nationalistic steps.
  

The two countries have not held a formal bilateral summit for more than two years as Tokyo has refused to accept Seoul's demand that it take sincere steps to resolve the issue of Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean women for its troops during World War II.
  

The United States has called for Seoul and Tokyo to come to terms with each other. Frayed relations between the two key Asian allies are a cause for concern for Washington as it seeks to develop three-way security cooperation in an effort to keep a rising China in check. (Yonhap)