Abe skips chance to encounter Park in U.N.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has skipped a U.N. session presided over by South Korean President Park Geun-hye, dashing hopes that the two leaders may meet following Abe's recent offer for a summit.

   Abe had been expected to attend a climate session on Tuesday, but he did not show up, according to Park's office.

   Some observers had expected that the two leaders may meet in the U.N. General Assembly.

   On Friday, Abe proposed to hold a summit with Park in the fall, without elaborating on a specific time frame.

   Abe conveyed his written offer to Park through former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who visited South Korea to attend last week's opening ceremony of the Asian Games in Incheon, a port city west of Seoul.

   South Korea and Japan are seeking to repair bilateral relations soured by historical disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

   Park has shunned a summit with Abe for pursuing nationalistic policies, though they met with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in the Netherlands in March.

   Separately, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said in a brief comment to Yonhap News Agency that Seoul is coordinating with Tokyo for his meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida.

   Yun last held talks with Kishida on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum, an annual security meeting, in Myanmar in August. (August)