(LEAD) Japan invites Yoon to upcoming G-7 summit: report

(ATTN: UPDATES with response from presidential office; ADDS background info)

SEOUL, March 20 (Yonhap) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida invited South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to a G-7 summit to be held in Hiroshima in May, a news report said Monday.

According to Japan's Kyodo News Agency, Kishida told reporters he invited leaders of South Korea, Brazil, India, Vietnam and four other countries to the upcoming G-7 summit during his ongoing visit to India.

Japan has the authority to invite countries to the G-7 summit this year as the host nation.

Presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon confirmed the report, saying Yoon's office views the invitation as a "positive" result of last week's bilateral summit with Japan.

On Thursday, Yoon and Kishida held a one-on-one summit in Tokyo, signaling a significant warming of long-strained relations between Seoul and Tokyo.

Yoon was the first South Korean president to visit Japan for a bilateral summit in 12 years.

Ahead of the summit, Seoul announced a solution to the long-running dispute over compensation for Koreans forced into hard labor for Japanese companies when Korea was under Japan's colonial rule from 1910-45.

Last week, Yoon said in an interview with Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun that the G-7 summit will give South Korea an opportunity to establish "strong solidarity and cooperation with countries that share universal values mainly in security, economy and trade."