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

Tokyo, Oct 3: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took office last week, will visit China on October. 8 and South Korea on Oct. 9 for fence-mending summits with their leaders, 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.

Reuters