S.Korea foreign minister to visit Japan this week

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s foreign minister will visit
Japan despite anger over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi’s war shrine pilgrimage, but a South Korean official
said on Monday it was too early to resurrect a presidential
trip.

Beijing and Seoul protested last week after Koizumi paid
his respects at Tokyo’s Yasukuni shrine, seen by many in China
and Koreans as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism because war
criminals as well as other war dead are honored there.

But confirmation of Ban Ki-moon’s visit from October 27 to
October 29 was taken in Tokyo as the latest sign that the furor
may be dying down. Ban is to meet both Koizumi and Japanese
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura.

Ban had said last Wednesday he did not think the mood was
appropriate for such a trip. He was speaking after China called
off a planned visit by Machimura.

South Korea has also said President Roh Moo-hyun was
unlikely to meet Koizumi for their semi-annual summit. Tokyo
has said it assumes the meeting is still on.

“We should be conveying directly and clearly our position
on the Yasukuni shrine visit and the history issue through this
visit,” the South Korean official said, explaining the change.

Asked if Ban’s trip meant Seoul would resume pursuing
summit talks with Tokyo, the official said: “I cannot say that
that is necessarily the case. We will have to give it some time
to think about it.”

The official was briefing reporters on condition of
anonymity and did not elaborate.

“LEVEL-HEADED”

A South Korean newspaper, Hankook Ilbo, quoted an official
as saying Seoul was ditching the idea of a summit until Koizumi
leaves office unless Tokyo makes amends for the shrine visit.

Kyodo news agency quoted Koizumi as telling reporters on
Monday he thought South Korea was being “level-headed” about
his visit to the shrine on October 17, his fifth since taking
office.

“Friendship between Japan and South Korea has not changed,”
Koizumi said, following a meeting with political ally Taku
Yamasaki, who went to South Korea last week.

Media reports have said Yamasaki had some discussion in
Seoul about setting up an alternative shrine to separate war
dead from convicted criminals.

Asked about whether this would come up during Ban’s visit,
the South Korean official said: “I believe the issue must be
raised.”

Koizumi’s pilgrimage threatened to worsen already strained
ties with China, the scene of anti-Japanese protests in April.
But no major boycotts or demonstrations have been seen so far.

Japanese business executives have also voiced concerns that
the strains would damage economic relations between China and
Japan, which have annual trade worth about $212 billion.

Japanese chief cabinet secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda was asked
at a news conference to evaluate the reaction of South Korea
and China in the week since Koizumi visited Yasukuni. He said
it was not really his place to comment.

“But there is no change in Prime Minister Koizumi’s wish to
strengthen ties with our neighboring countries,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Elaine Lies in Tokyo)