Japan, SKorea resume summits after chill

TOKYO - South Korea's new President Lee Myung-Bak on Monday opened talks in Japan, marking a resumption of mutual visits between the neighbouring countries after a long chill.
Lee, on the second leg of his first foreign trip that also took him to the United States, started a summit with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda that was expected to focus on North Korea's nuclear drive, Japanese officials said.
Lee's predecessor Roh Moo-Hyun visited Japan in December 2004 under an agreement between the two nations for "shuttle diplomacy" of two summits a year, one in each country.
But Roh cancelled another trip a year later after then Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visited a controversial war shrine.
Lee, who was born in Japan and has touted a pragmatic approach to foreign policy, is hoping to boost relations with Japan which are often tainted with bitterness over Tokyo's 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.
The new South Korean leader has also signalled a tougher approach on communist North Korea after a decade of liberal leaders in Seoul who sought reconciliation with Pyongyang.
On North Korea, Lee and Fukuda are expected to agree that Pyongyang must make a "complete and accurate" declaration of its nuclear programmes amid a prolonged standoff in a six-nation disarmament deal, officials said.
The Yomiuri Shimbun has also said that the two leaders will agree to launch an annual trilateral summit with China to tackle regional disputes.
Lee and Fukuda will try as well to break a deadlock in free-trade talks which have been suspended since November 2004 over Seoul's attempt to gain access to Japan's heavily protected agriculture market.
The South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers agreed earlier this month to re-start the free-trade talks.