LEAD: S. Korea's Lee likely to visit Japan on April 20-21

TOKYO, March 11 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING DETAILS)

New South Korean President Lee Myung Bak is likely to make his first visit to Japan since taking power last month on April 20-21, sources connected to Japan-South Korea relations said Tuesday.

Lee is expected to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on April 21, with bilateral relations and the North Korean nuclear issue likely to be on the agenda, they said.

Fukuda and Lee held a meeting in Seoul shortly after the president was sworn in Feb. 25 and agreed to reinforce economic relations and to cooperate on curbing global warming and energy security.

This time they are expected to hold further discussions on cooperation in various areas including the fields agreed on during the previous talks, the sources said.

Lee, who has pledged efforts to expand foreign investment, is expected to be accompanied by South Korean business leaders and is mulling the possibility of exchanging views with officials of the Japan Business Federation during his visit to Japan, according to the sources.

Lee plans to visit Japan on his way home from a trip to the United States after a general election in South Korea on April 9, they said.

He is hoping to make early visits to the United States, Japan, China and Russia to discuss bilateral ties and the North Korean nuclear issue, according to the sources.

Lee's upcoming visit to Japan will mark the resumption of ''shuttle diplomacy'' between the two countries, which has been suspended since then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Seoul in June 2005.

Reciprocal annual visits by the two countries' leaders were suspended after Koizumi visited the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo in October 2005, leading then South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun to cancel his trip to Japan scheduled for December that year.

Fukuda is expected to visit South Korea in the fall.

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