South Korea FM to visit Japan later this month (Xinhua) Updated: 2005-10-24 13:49
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Monday he will visit Japan on
October 27-29.
"The decision on my trip to Tokyo was reached Monday morning," Ban told
reporters during a luncheon meeting in downtown Seoul to celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the United Nations.
"We have determined that a specific incident should not be an obstacle to
mutual relations between South Korea and Japan," he was quoted by South Korean
Yonhap News Agency as saying, referring to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi's recent visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.
"That's why I decided to go to Japan as scheduled. There are a lot of pending
bilateral issues in the political, economic, social and cultural fields," Ban
said.
Koisumi paid a homage to the shrine which honors 2 million Japanese war dead,
including 14 convicted Class-A World War II criminals. It was his fifth visit
there since he took office in April 2001.
Ban suggested several times last week canceling his planned visit to Tokyo as
protest Koizumi's trip to the shrine, saying " Under the current situation, it
is not appropriate for me to push to visit Japan."
The South Korean Foreign Ministry is planing to hold press briefing on the
background of the decision later in the day.
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