Japan PM to visit China, Korea on Oct 8,9-NHK

TOKYO, Oct 3 (Reuters) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took office last week, will visit China on October 8 and South Korea on October 9 for fence-mending summits, public broadcaster NHK said today.

Leaders of the two countries, where bitter memories of Japan's wartime aggression run deep, had refused to meet Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, because of his visits to a Tokyo war shrine seen by many as a symbol of Japan's militaristic past.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said he could not confirm the dates reported, while Japanese media said the government was likely to make an official announcement tomorrow.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hakubun Shimomura told a news conference that negotiations were being made with both nations for summits.

''On the question of the Japan-China summit, both sides are making efforts to bring it about quickly. Japan always has its door open,'' he said, adding that dates were being negotiated for a Japan-South Korea summit.

A spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, when asked about the NHK report, said: ''We don't have information about that.'' Abe, who took over as prime minister last week, has supported Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine but has declined to say if he would pay his respects there while in office. An adviser to Abe has said he went to Yasukuni last April, when he was a cabinet minister, but Abe has neither confirmed nor denied that.

He was quizzed repeatedly by opposition lawmakers in parliament on Tuesday about his views on the shrine and wartime history.

''I'd like to continue to pray for those who sacrificed their lives for the nation and to have a feeling of reverence for them,'' Abe reiterated.

Government officials have said Japan and its Asian neighbours were trying to find a way out of the diplomatic deadlock due largely to differing views of their wartime past, which has chilled relations and threatened to disrupt vital economic ties.

''Politicians should be modest in speaking about the analysis of history, as their statements carry political and diplomatic weight,'' Abe told parliament.

Abe also referred again to a historic 1995 Japanese government statement in which then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama apologised for the suffering Japan caused in Asia with its military aggression in the 1930s and 1940s.

China and Japan have not held a summit since April last year, and the South Korean and Japanese leaders have not met formally since last November.

REUTERS AKJ DS1250