Japan's FM to visit S Korea, India
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso will make a five-day trip from Saturday to South Korea and India, which is expected to focus on the North Korea nuclear row and sensitive history-related issues.
By Agencies |
TOKYO: Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso will make a five-day trip from Saturday to South Korea and India, which is expected to focus on the North Korea nuclear row and sensitive history-related issues.
Japan has been working to repair ties with South Korea and China, which were badly strained in recent years over the legacy of war, and to move closer to India, a fellow democracy which has little historical baggage with Tokyo.
In New Delhi, Aso may also hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing who will also be visiting the Indian capital, a Japanese foreign ministry official said Friday.
Aso and Li would likely lay the groundwork for Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Japan in mid-April.
Aso will leave Tokyo for the South Korean resort island of Jeju on Saturday to hold talks with his counterpart Song Min-Soon, the official said. North Korea's nuclear standoff is expected to be high on the agenda for the Aso-Song meeting.
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Six-nation talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programme broke down earlier this month after North Korea refused to enter negotiations until 25 million dollars in funds frozen in a Macau bank were safely returned.Aso's visit is also part of Tokyo's effort to improve ties with Seoul and Beijing, which deteriorated as former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi repeatedly visited a controversial war shrine in Tokyo.
But a South Korean official said Song would bring up a row about wartime sex slaves. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe caused an uproar earlier this month when he denied Japan had directly coerced so-called "comfort women," although he later renewed an apology to them.
"Both sides cannot just pass by the issue of 'comfort women' which has emerged as a pending issue between South Korea and Japan," the South Korean official said Thursday.
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Aso will fly to New Delhi on Monday to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit as an observer. He will deliver a speech at the summit.Download
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