Japan's Abe in SKorea as North announces test

SEOUL, Oct 9 (Reuters) Japan's prime minister flew to South Korea today to mend relations with his key neighbour in a trip overshadowed almost as soon as he had landed by North Korea's announcement it had conducted a nuclear test.

Shinzo Abe had arrived from ice-breaking talks in China the day earlier.

Shortly after his arrival in Seoul today morning, North Korea's official news agency announced that it had conducted its threatened nuclear test.

Abe told reporters that Japan had not be able to confirm the test had been carried out. However, South Korea's presidential Blue House said it had detected a tremor in the North of a magnitude of 3.58 to 3.7 at 0705 hrs IST.

Relations between Seoul and Tokyo deteriorated under Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, because of his visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine, which is seen as glorifying Japan's militarist past.

In Beijing, -- the first visit there by a Japanese leader for five years -- Abe agreed with Chinese leaders to repair relations, expressing ''deep remorse'' for past Japanese actions.

Abe's talks in Seoul with President Roh Moo-hyun are likely be dominated by the North Korean nuclear crisis.

Tokyo backs a hard line toward Pyongyang, while Seoul and Beijing -- leery of instability on the peninsula -- have cautioned against backing the North into a corner.

All three agree that North Korea should end its nearly year-long boycott of six-country talks on ending its nuclear weapons programme.

And all three had warned the North not to carry out a nuclear test.

''A joint response to the North's pledge to conduct a nuclear test will be the key subject of discussions,'' a South Korean official familiar with preparations for the Roh-Abe meeting said before North Korea's announcement.

''The history issue is also an important subject on the agenda,'' the official said, adding Seoul hopes Abe's government will show proper contrition for Japan's 1910-1945 rule over the Korean peninsula.

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