(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-05 15:35

TOKYO - Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura and visiting South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Yu Myung Hwan agreed Friday to improve and strengthen bilateral ties through South Korean President Lee Myung Bak's visit to Japan scheduled for later this month.

President Lee's visit starting April 20 and his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will be in accordance with the "new Japan-South Korea era," which had been confirmed by the two leaders during Fukuda's earlier visit to South Korea, Komura said at a joint press conference following talks with Yu.

Komura said Lee's visit will be the first step of the resumed " shuttle diplomacy," which was proposed by the two countries lately.

Exchange of high level visits between Japan and South Korea was suspended in 2005 due to Japanese former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine.

Yu for his part said both sides regard the resumption of the " shuttle diplomacy" as critical for building a "matured partnership, " noting that the trust between leaders and common people of the two countries is indispensable for the development of a future- oriented bilateral relationship.

Yu said South Korea is willing to see more Japanese investment in South Korea's raw material and machine components fields, and intends to discuss with Japan about cooperation to promote bilateral trade.

About the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Komura said he and his counterpart agreed that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea should provide an all-around and accurate report of its nuclear activities.

Yu, who is on his first visit to Japan, held a separate meeting with Fukuda earlier in the day. He arrived in Tokyo on Thursday and will attend the Group of Eight development ministers' meeting in Tokyo on Saturday and Sunday.