The leader of the junior partner in Japan's ruling coalition will visit South Korea this week to meet with President Park Geun-hye as Japan seeks to arrange bilateral summit talks at an early date, a Japanese newspaper said Wednesday.
Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of Komeito, is scheduled to arrive in Seoul later in the day for a three-day visit. He plans to pay a courtesy call on Park on Thursday, according to the Nikkei.
Yamaguchi announced his visit in a press conference last week, saying he hopes to pave the way for summit talks between Park and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He will also travel to Beijing from Oct. 13-16.
The three countries are expected to hold trilateral summit talks in South Korea at the end of this month or the start of next month.
Keen attention is being paid to whether Park and Abe will hold a separate bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the event.
Park and Abe have yet to hold one-on-one summit talks due to bilateral tensions stemming from disputes over shared history, including the issue of Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during World War II.
In his meeting with Park, Yamaguchi is expected to explain Abe's statement in August that marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the war and a set of controversial security bills passed last month. (Yonhap)
