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Mr Fukuda (above) arrived in a chartered plane at a military airport in Seongnam south of Seoul at around 5.20pm (0820 GMT), an airport official said. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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SEOUL - JAPANESE Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Sunday arrived in South Korea to attend the presidential inauguration of Lee Myung Bak and hold his first summit with the new president, officials said.
Mr Fukuda and Mr Lee were to hold talks at the Blue House presidential office Monday following the inauguration ceremony, officials from both sides said.
The Japanese leader arrived in a chartered plane at a military airport in Seongnam south of Seoul at around 5.20 pm (0820 GMT), an airport official said.
Japan has welcomed the election of Lee, a conservative who has promised to seek improved ties with Tokyo, which brutally ruled the Korean peninsula between 1910 and 1945.
Mr Lee has said he would not seek apologies from Tokyo over the past, in a shift from his predecessors including outgoing President Roh Moo Hyun, who had repeatedly accused Japan of failing to atone for its past.
Relations between the neighbours soured during the 2001-2006 premiership of Japan's Junichiro Koizumi, who each year visited a shrine venerating Japanese war dead including war criminals.
No South Korean president has visited Japan since December 2004.
Mr Lee has said he will travel to Japan and invite Emperor Akihito to come to South Korea. No Japanese emperor has visited the Korean peninsula since World War II.
Mr Fukuda is expected to return to Tokyo late on Monday. -- AFP
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