South Korean FM indicates cancellation of Japan visit
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-10-19 11:54

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki- moon indicated Wednesday he may cancel his visit to Japan tentatively scheduled for later this month as the diplomatic atmosphere between the two countries turned worse after Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to a controversial war shrine.

"Under the current situation, it is not appropriate (for me) to push to visit Japan," Ban said during a weekly press briefing earlier Wednesday.

He made the remarks while disclosing that diplomatic authorities of the two nations had previously discussed his Japanese trip, reported South Korean Yonhap New Agency.

Ban had planned to visit Tokyo sometime this month to have a one-on-one meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Nobutaka Machimura.

"We were in consultations with Japanese officials on Foreign Minister Ban's itinerary there for discussions on making progress at next month's six-part talks (on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula) and the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit, " Yonhap quoted an unnamed ranking official at the South Korean Foreign Ministry as saying.

Earlier in March this year, Ban canceled his scheduled trip to Japan after a Japanese prefecture introduced legislation that backs claim to a group of islets located in the East Sea.

On Monday, Koizumi paid homage to the Yasukuni Shrine that honors 2 million Japanese war dead, including 14 convicted Class-A World War II criminals. It was his fifth visit there since he took office in April 2001.

Immediately after Koizumi's shrine visit, Ban summoned Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Shotaro Oshima to file protest. And South Korean Foreign Ministry also issued a strong-worded statement, condemning the visit.

Even, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun suggested that he may cancel a regular summit with the Japanese leader tentatively slated for this December.