Japanese leader seeks to visit S. Korea next month: report

TOKYO, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is likely to
visit South Korea next month for a summit with President Lee Myung-bak, a major
Japanese newspaper reported Saturday.

If made, it would be his first trip to South Korea since taking the post earlier
this month.
Citing multiple diplomatic sources, the Yomiuri Shimbun said the neighboring
countries' governments are in final consultations on Hatoyama's plan to visit on
Sept. 9, the eve of the trilateral summit among the leaders of South Korea,
Japan, and China in Beijing.
Lee and Hatoyama had their first summit earlier this week on the sidelines of the
Group of 20 economic summit in Pittsburgh, where the Japanese leader said his
government has the "courage" to address directly the two countries' shared
history -- including Japan's colonization of Korea from 1910-45 -- and hopes to
build constructive and future-oriented ties with South Korea.
They are also scheduled to meet in the three-way summit with Chinese President Hu
Jintao on Oct. 10 in Beijing.
The Yomiuri Shimbun said Hatoyama's plan to visit South Korea on Oct. 9 had been
made before the date for the tripartite summit was fixed, a sign that Japan's new
administration attaches importance to relations with Seoul.
On his trip to Japan last week, Rep. Lee Sang-deuk, elder brother of the South
Korean president and the chairman of a South Korea-Japan parliamentary friendship
association, asked for Hatoyama to make an early visit to South Korea.
(END)